SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has discussed dissolving its politburo office and holding a party congress early next year following the death of its founder and the fall of Kirkuk, a stronghold of the party, a senior official told Rudaw on Saturday evening.
The PUK’s leadership held a meeting on Saturday in Sulaimani, but no decision was made.
Aso Mamand, a member of PUK’s politburo office, said the party’s congress will likely be held before the end of January, but before Newroz at the latest. Newroz is the Kurdish New Year, celebrated on March 21.
Regarding the fate of the politburo, he said it was proposed to appoint an 11-member committee to replace the politburo with a mission to prepare for the congress and oversee party activities in the interim.
Rudaw understands that Kosrat Rasul, the acting head of the party, is being put forward to head the new executive committee.
Mamand said the PUK’s Leadership Council, the party’s highest authority, will meet again on Monday to make final decisions on the issues discussed on Saturday, including setting a date for the congress.
The PUK has been plagued by rifts in its leadership. Last year, Rasul and his then deputy Barham Salih denounced what they called an unethical group within the party leadership and announced the formation of a decision-making body.
In September, Salih broke from the PUK and established his own political entity, the Coalition for Democracy and Justice.
In recent weeks, PUK leaders have received mounting criticism for the fall of Kirkuk. The party announced on October 24 that it had opened an internal investigation into what went wrong on October 16 in the oil-rich province.
Rasul, who is also former vice president of the Kurdistan Region, and other senior PUK members, including family members of the late party founder Jalal Talabani, traded accusations of blame back and forth in the aftermath of October 16.
Talabani’s eldest son, Bafel, has been widely reported as having negotiated a deal with Iranian Quds commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi officials that permitted federal forces to enter Kirkuk without strong resistance. Although he is a PUK member, Bafel does not hold any official role. He denies the accusations.
The PUK is one of the two main ruling parties of the Kurdistan Region that has strong influence over the Peshmerga and security forces in the provinces of Sulaimani and Halabja.
