SULAIMANI (ESTA) — So far no agreement has been made between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Iraq’s Presidential position, said a senior party official on Monday.
Answering a question asked by Esta Media Network reporter, Saidi Ahmad Pira, a member of the PUK politburo told the reporters in a press conference that neither PUK and KDP reached an agreement on that matter.
“We have no choice but to unite,” he said.
“PUK and KDP are not hostile, we have differences, two different political parties.” “From the political perspective we are different and compete with each other, there is a difference between competitor and enemy,” he added.
The official stressed that there are ongoing talks between both sides, and whether there is an agreement or not the Kurdistan Region must be governed.
“No governance can be made without PUK and KDP,” he continued.
Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to overthrow the Ba’ath regime, under a power-sharing system designed to avoid sectarian conflict, Iraq’s president is a Kurd, its prime minister a Shia, and its parliament speaker a Sunni.
The PUK has held the position since then by a “strategic agreement” with the KDP that allows the party to control Iraq’s president while making the KDP hold the Kurdistan Region President.
But in recent months after the early elections of October, both Kurdish parties have engaged in dispute after the KDP nominated its candidate, Reber Ahmad, for the President position.
More than 11 months after legislative elections, Iraqi institutions are at a standstill over lawmakers’ inability to elect a president who can later appoint a Prime Minister to form the government.
