ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani is scheduled to meet with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Baghdad on Saturday to discuss formation of Kirkuk’s local government, which has been delayed for more than half a year due to a political impasse, according to sources.
Rebwar Taha, head of the PUK faction in the Kirkuk Provincial Council, told Rudaw on Friday that his party and its Christian ally, the Babylon Movement, will meet with Sudani in Baghdad with “the main agenda item” being formation of the local government.
Sudani will also meet with the KDP, a local source told Rudaw on the condition of anonymity.
The PUK won five spots in Kirkuk’s 16-seat council in the December election. Its ally, the Babylon Movement, took one seat and the KDP took two, while Arab parties won six and Turkmen two.
Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen have not been able to agree on a governor, with each component claiming the right to the position, leaving Kirkuk’s local government in limbo.
Sudani has separately discussed the issue with Arab and Turkmen parties over the past two weeks.
Rakan al-Jabouri, a Sunni politician and head of the council’s Arab coalition, has served as Kirkuk’s acting governor for the past six years. He presided over the first provincial council meeting, which was held on July 11. By law, the council must fill all positions by August 10 - within 30 days of that first meeting.
There are several possible scenarios for the distribution of positions in the multi-ethnic province, control of which is disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
The Kurdish parties have been divided and separately held meetings with Arabs and Turkmens to try and reach an agreement. The KDP initially reached a deal with Arabs and Turkmens that excluded the PUK, which did a similar move to form its own coalition, but neither have materialized.
Sudani has presided over three meetings attended by the political parties that have representation in the council.
Since the fall of the Ba’athist regime in 2003, Kurds and Arabs have dominated the top post in Kirkuk. The governor was a Kurd until October 2017 when federal forces returned to the province after the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum and appointed Jabouri as acting governor. The city has never had a governor from the Turkmen or Christian communities.
Hardi Mohammed contributed to this article
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