Dilshad Shahab, the spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region presidency, told journalists in Erbil that President Barzani will visit Baghdad soon, noting that he will attend a meeting of the Shiite-led State Administration Coalition.
President Barzani traveled to Baghdad earlier this month to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, as well as other Iraqi political and governmental leaders. During this visit, he also attended a meeting of the State Administration Coalition.
Shahab told Rudaw at the time that the discussions primarily focused on key issues such as the Region's allocation of the federal budget, the disbursement of salaries for Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) employees, and the resumption of Kurdish oil exports that were suspended a year ago, also touching on the thorn of “broken promises” by the State Administration Coalition.
Following his meeting with Sudani, President Barzani told journalists that they “discussed future relations of the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad,” adding that he was sure that the two sides could “ reach a mutual understanding in the Kurdistan Region-Baghdad relations that will benefit all of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.”
Regarding the long overdue Kurdistan Region elections, Shahab said that the polls were “a top priority” of President Barzani.
“Election is an important political, legal, and constitutional matter, especially right now as we are experiencing a legislative gap [in the Kurdistan Region] and the Kurdistan Parliament is not active,” Shahab said, adding that President Barzani urges all the parties to prioritize the vote.
“The [Kurdistan] Region has suffered as a result of the disputes regarding the elections, the [election] law, and the electoral commission,” he said.
The Kurdistan Region is set to hold parliamentary elections on June 10, with a nearly two-year delay, after multiple postponements caused by disputes between political parties and pending legal cases related to the electoral process.
Although the majority of the Kurdistan Region’s political parties, including KDP’s power-sharer in government, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), announced their participation in the vote, the KDP is standing by its choice to boycott the election, despite numerous calls to reverse this decision. The party claims the federal court’s ruling on the minority seats and the division of the Region into four constituencies are “unconstitutional.”
