SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Bafel Jalal Talabani met with chairman of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Falih al-Fayyadh in Sulaimani on Wednesday night.
Talabani welcomed Fayyadh in Dabashan area in Sulaimani city late on Wednesday, his office said in a statement.
The PMF leader arrived in the Kurdistan Region on Wednesday to meet with Kurdish politicians and officials.
Talabani and Fayyadh discussed the latest political, economic and security developments in the country, the statement read.
They stressed on unifying efforts to hold the first session of the Iraqi Council of Representatives set for Sunday and to form a new Iraqi government.
Fayyadh separately met with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani in Erbil on Wednesday.
Last week, Iraqi President Barham Salih issued a decree that convenes new parliament for January 9, following the approval of final results by the federal court.
Lawmakers will elect a parliamentary speaker and two deputies in their first session. They will later elect a new president who will task the leader of the largest bloc to form a government as prime minister.
The main winner of the election was Sadr, a populist who has positioned himself as a staunch opponent of both Iran and the United States.
Sadr’s bloc, already the biggest in the 329-seat parliament, will expand to 73 seats from 54. Its main rivals for years, the al-Fateh Alliance linked to pro-Tehran militia, meanwhile, saw its parliamentary representation collapse to just 17 seats from 48.
The Taqqadum Party, which draws support from minority Sunni Muslims, won 37 seats, according to the final results.
Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Alliance won 33 seats, the results showed.
Because no coalition won a majority, Shia, Sunni and Kurdish coalitions have been jockeying for position in the new government.
