ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Thursday signaled a potential return to the Kirkuk provincial council after a nearly two-year boycott, a senior party official in the province told Rudaw English, citing a "formal request" and intensified outreach from other political groups on the council.
"All the other parties reached out to us and submitted a signed formal request calling on the KDP to end its boycott," said Hasan Majid, head of the KDP's bloc on Kirkuk's provincial council.
"We have informed the party's leadership of the request and will deliver an official response in the coming days," he added, affirming that the KDP will "make the right decision."
Ahmed Kirkuki, a member of the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in the Kirkuk council, confirmed to Rudaw English that a request had been sent to the KDP, noting that the party has in fact been regularly asked to end its boycott.
"The request has been made by the presidency of the council and delivered to the KDP,” Kirkuki said, adding that a similar request is submitted “every one or two months since the party’s boycott began… through the same mechanism."
The KDP has boycotted sessions of the Kirkuk provincial council since August 2024, when an eight-month deadlock following the 2023 provincial elections ended with the PUK forging an alliance with other parties and appointing its nominee, Rebwar Taha, as governor of Kirkuk.
The PUK, holding five seats, partnered with two Sunni-led Arab blocs holding three seats and the Christian Babylon Movement with one seat in what became known as the Rasheed Hotel meeting in Baghdad. Securing a nine-seat majority on the 16-member council, the bloc successfully elected the governor amid a broader agreement to divide provincial positions.
At the time, the KDP, holding two seats, alongside the three-member Arab Alliance and two-member Turkish-backed Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), rejected the agreement, citing politicking "behind closed doors," and the three blocs subsequently boycotted the sessions.
Over time, the Arab Alliance and the ITF ended their boycotts and returned to council sessions, while the KDP remained the only party boycotting.
In April, when the council convened with 14 of 16 members present to execute the next phase of the Rasheed Hotel agreement, appointing Mohammed Samaan Agha of the Turkmen front as governor, after the PUK’s Taha submitted his resignation.
The KDP then rejected Samaan Agha’s appointment as a continuation of the political maneuvering which “undermines the will of voters and the future of Kirkuk’s residents.”
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