KDP: we a ready to hold a second meeting, PUK is not

Shafaq News/ The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's (PUK) boycott of the parliament meetings delays holding the legislative election, a leading figure in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said on Wednesday.

On October 9, 2022, the parliament of Iraq's semi-autonomous northern Kurdistan region voted to extend its term by a year, postponing polls against a backdrop of a wider national political paralysis.

The delay is the result of disputes between the KDP and PUK over the delineation of electoral constituencies. Some attribute the intra-regional dispute to a broader power struggle beyond the region's borders.

"We want to resume the parliament meetings to agree on an amendment to the election law and activate the region's higher commission for election and Referendum," Blind Esmail, the head of the KDP's 2nd branch in Erbil, told reporters today.

"We held a meeting with the PUK last month. However, they are not ready to attend another meeting at the moment," he added.

"We are waiting for a signal from them," he concluded.