Nechirvan Barzani consulting parties on drafting Kurdistan Region constitution

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — President Nechirvan Barzani is consulting with political parties over the drafting of the Kurdistan Region’s first-ever constitution.

Barzani visited the Gorran (Change) headquarters in Sulaimani on Tuesday morning to meet with leaders of the party and discuss the latest developments in the Region.

“Our aim for this visit is that we want to solve problems facing the Region, and to exchange some insight on the Kurdistan Region constitution,” Barzani said in a press conference after his meeting with Gorran. He said he planned to meet with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party next.

“We are discussing this matter with all the parties, after that, the parliament will set up a mechanism to put this to work,” Barzani added, referring to the drafting of the constitution. “There are serious efforts to put this plan to work.”

The Kurdistan Region does not currently have a constitution, and is instead governed by a series of laws, instructions and norms.

With regard to Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections, Barzani said that Kurdish parties need to reach a mutual understanding and form a united front.

“The President asked for serious efforts in concluding the draft for the Kurdistan Region constitution, and we agree with that effort, and it is our principle as Gorran, we are with a civil and modern constitution,” Gorran spokesperson Dler Abdulxaliq told Rudaw’s Arkan Ali.

Barzani on Monday met with the Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal) and the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) in Erbil.

“The ongoing preparations of the Kurdistan Region constitution, Erbil-Baghdad relations, and the upcoming Iraqi elections were highlighted,” reads a statement by the Presidency about the Monday meetings. 

Earlier in April, Barzani arranged a joint meeting with the leaders of the major political parties in the Kurdistan Region. 

“The main purpose of the meeting was to get the parties closer together so that there’s a unified Kurdish dialogue to deal with the current sensitive political situation in Iraq and the region as a whole,” Presidential advisor Dlshad Shahab told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman at the time.

In 2019, Kurdistan Parliament Speaker Rewaz Fayaq called on Kurdish parties to unite and reach agreements before beginning to write a constitution. Work began on a draft constitution that year, but was later suspended. 

Earlier in April, MPs were asked to re-submit their agreements and disagreements to parliament in order to restart work on the draft.