Shafaq News- Al-Sulaymaniyah
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) warned on Tuesday that selecting Iraq’s president without Kurdish consensus could undermine the Kurdistan Region’s rights, days after parliament elected Nizar Amedi of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), its main Kurdish rival.
Speaking at a press conference, Ali Hussein, a member of the KDP’s political bureau in Al-Sulaymaniyah, stressed that the party holds no objection to the current president or any individual candidate, but “reserves its position on the mechanism of election.” He underlined that, since 2003, the presidency has been allocated to the Kurdish component through internal agreement among Kurdish parties.
Hussein cautioned that resolving the post through alliances with non-Kurdish blocs, rather than intra-Kurdish consensus, may carry political consequences. “This entitlement should be resolved within the Kurdish house,” he noted, referring to Kurdish lawmakers in parliament.
On relations with the PUK, Hussein described ties as “good,” while acknowledging that coordination has slowed due to recent political developments and regional tensions.
The Kurdish official also confirmed ongoing meetings in Erbil between the KDP’s parliamentary bloc and its government representatives in Baghdad to reassess Iraq’s political trajectory, particularly following the presidential vote and discussions over forming the next government. The talks aim to present proposals for navigating the next phase amid broader regional instability.
On April 11, Iraq’s parliament elected Amedi as president in a second round of voting with 227 votes, after previous attempts failed to secure quorum amid Kurdish divisions over a joint candidate. Lawmakers from the KDP, the largest Kurdish bloc, boycotted the session, as party leader Masoud Barzani opposed proceeding with the presidential election without broader political agreement, including alignment on forming the next government.