Talabani has the backing of the PUK’s acting head Kosrat Rasul and his mother Hero Ibrahim, an influential PUK politburo member and veteran Peshmerga, Rudaw has learned from a PUK official who wished to remain anonymous.
"Qubad Talabani is one of the strong candidates who has most support to become party leader or member of the leadership body," the official said, qualifying that Talabani does not have a large base of support within the party.
The younger son of the party’s charismatic founder may not have an easy ride rising to the top position. He has never held a senior position within the party and has been accused of kowtowing to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
PUK politburo member Mahmud Sangawi, who is also a Peshmerga commander, called Talabani a “servant” to KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and accused him of being weak, remaining in the shadows. He said Talabani’s role was to represent the PUK in the government, not commit to the parties of Barzani’s KDP.
The PUK and KDP have been in an alliance for the past ten years, but are historical rivals and fought a bloody civil war in the 1990s.
His good relations with the KDP and other parties, like Gorran and the Islamic parties, are seen as an asset for PUK leadership member Rabar Ibrahim.
“Qubad is a charismatic man,” Ibrahim told Rudaw. “[He] resembles Mam Jalal in his interaction with PUK members.”
He has largely avoided being involved in the controversy over Kirkuk. Some within the PUK and the Talabani family, though not Qubad, were accused of handing Kirkuk over to Iraq – a charge they deny.
Following the illness of Jalal Talabani in 2012 and then his death in October, other members of his family have emerged in the public eye. Jalal Talabani’s eldest son Bafel and his nephew Lahur Talabany both come from security backgrounds. Lahur is head of the PUK’s anti-terror force.
The two have not hidden their interest in senior leadership positions with the PUK. Neither of them holds any positions within the party’s decision-making bodies.
Some within the party argue that filling Mam (Uncle) Jalal Talabani’s shoes is difficult and the party should abolish the post of secretary general and adopt a different leadership structure.
A PUK committee has been tasked with re-writing the party’s by-laws to be presented at the upcoming congress, including sections that concern the post of the party leader and his or her powers.
"The argument for removing the position of PUK secretary is very strong,” Farid Asasard, another PUK official, told Rudaw. “But no such decisions have been made. This question depends on PUK's new structure and by-laws which will be decided in the congress.”
The party congress should be held in the first quarter of 2018. The party is waiting for the return of Kosrat Rasul from Germany before setting a date.
Talabani is campaigning for it to take place as soon as possible, no later than January. Last month he issued a warning that the PUK was in danger.
For the party to remain cohesive and strong and to ensure that “the territorial integrity of Kurdistan is protected,” the PUK must hold its ordinary congress and give new people a chance to come forward with modern ideas and strengthen the party, he said.
Without naming Mahmud Sangawi, the PUK official who criticized Talabani’s youngest son for being subordinate to PM Barzani, Talabani called him a “pharaoh.”
He said over the weekend that there are "pharaohs" in the Kurdistan Region "confiscating lands, building villas, doing business, smuggling, killing people, and journalists." Sangawi rejects these accusations.
Talabani said the KRG has failed so far to stand against corrupt individuals who "appear on television on a daily basis" talking about "fighting corruption."
Sangawi, who was initially accused was later acquitted of the murder of Kawa Garmiani, a Kurdish journalist shot dead in front of his house in Kalar. A person was convicted of the murder. Garmiani’s family maintains that Sangawi ordered the killing, a charge the PUK Peshmerga commander denies.
Last updated on December 15, 2017 at 10:19 a.m.
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