SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) discussed unity among Kurds in Baghdad on Monday, a politician said, as parties across the country work to form a new Iraqi government.
A KDP delegation arrived in Sulaimani on Monday morning to meet with officials from the PUK and Change Movement (Gorran) as well as other parties, according to the party.
The delegation led by secretary of KDP’s politburo Fazil Mirani held its first meeting with PUK Co-president Bafel Talabani and several members of the party’s politburo.
“We discussed unity of Kurds in Baghdad and several other topics,” PUK spokesman Amin Baba Sheikh said in a joint press conference with KDP spokesman Mahmoud Mohammed.
“We need to reach an agreement in the Kurdistan Region, then we should start negotiations with the Iraqi parties,” he added.
He also reiterated the PUK’s efforts for unity among Kurds in Baghdad and in the Kurdistan Region.
The KDP spokesman, for his part, said the delegation would visit other parties.
Mahmoud further said there was an “understanding” between the KDP and Iraq’s Sadrist Movement, which won most of the votes in the October 10 election.
A Sadrist movement’s delegation is expected to visit the Kurdistan Region for negotiations on the formation of a new government.
Kurds have secured 63 seats of the Iraqi Council of Representatives during the general election, according to the preliminary results announced by the electoral commission.
Iraq’s electoral commission said late on Saturday that voter turnout in the elections had reached 43%. It was 41 percent when the commission announced preliminary results.
Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said his movement secured the biggest number of seats in the 329-seat parliament, adding that he would not challenge the results.
Sadr departed Najaf city for the Iraqi capital on Monday to hold meetings with other blocs to form a new government, according to Iraqi media.
