Masoud Barzani: Erbil-Baghdad needs partnership, consensus, balance

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The head of the largest part in the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani called for Erbil and Baghdad abide by three principles: partnership, consensus, and balance.

Barzani, the former president of the Kurdistan Region and head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, tweeted "there have emerged a number of observations on the elections and the subsequent results and the possibility of a new opportunity through which the issues may be resolved."

Elections on May 12 saw the KDP winning 25 seats in the Iraqi parliament — fifth most across Iraq, but behind Shiite-led lists, some of which have argued for majoritarian rule.

"We are seriously attempting to reach a common ground and it is our sincere hope that abidance by those principles will resolve the issues between Erbil and Baghdad and the other political issues in Iraq," added Barzani.

Ahead of the May 12 elections, Kurdish parties tried and failed to form a united bloc. After the vote, relations plummeted as accusations of vote rigging dominated the discourse. 

A group of opposition parties – Gorran, CDJ, Komal, KIU, IMK, and the Communist Party – have called for a manual recount or full do-over of the election in the Kurdistan Region and the disputed areas. 

The PUK and KDP separately sent delegations to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi winners in the elections. The two parties, who secured 43 of the 58 seats that went to Kurdish parties, met in Baghdad, but have not been able to bridge relations with the opposition parties. 

"It is therefore very imperative that the focus should be on the principles of partnership, consensus, and balance and not as in the previous phases where one side determines the fate of an entire country. In accordance with these three principles," Barzani added.

The Iraqi government, chiefly the Council of Ministers, called for a 5-percent recount of ballots on Tuesday, seemingly beyond the scope of Iraq's "high independent" electoral body.