ERBIL,— The parliament of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region elected a new leadership board on Wednesday, ending more than two years of political deadlock after 52 lawmakers attended a session that had been repeatedly postponed.
The turnout barely cleared the quorum threshold, a result made possible only after several members broke ranks with their own parties.
Lawmakers unanimously elected Vala Farid, head of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), as parliament speaker. The KDP is led by the Barzani family.
Christian quota representative Rami Noori was named her deputy, while Turkmen quota lawmaker Muna Qahwachi took the secretary post, a position she has now held twice.
Speaking to reporters following the vote, Farid said the session followed proper legal procedure and the parliament’s own bylaws.
She described the new board as permanent rather than a temporary arrangement, and said lawmakers would move forward with legal steps to nominate both the Kurdistan Region president and the region’s tenth cabinet.
The vote took place despite a mass boycott. Thirty two lawmakers from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and its allied New Generation Movement NGM (Cûłanewey Newey Nwê) boycotted the session.
How the quorum was reached
When the KDP announced the surprise session on Tuesday, the party and its partners held just 45 seats, six short of what was needed.
That coalition consisted of 39 KDP seats, three quota seats, two seats belonging to the People’s Front led by jailed former PUK figure Lahur Sheikh Jangi Talabani, and one seat held by the Kurdistan Social Democratic Party.
51 lawmakers from the opposition bloc had vowed to boycott the session.
Besides the PUK and the New Generation Movement, the boycotting parties included the Kurdistan Islamic Union, the National Stance Movement, known as Halwest (Rewtî Helwêstî Nîştimanî), the Change Movement (Gorran), and the Kurdistan Justice Group (KJG), also known as Komal, formerly the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG).
Three PUK members, Nishtiman Nawprdani, Hardi Salah and Mohammed Faysal Karimkhan, attended and declared themselves independent, cutting ties with their party.
Nawprdani told Rudaw TV she would continue attending future sessions. Salah called the gathering a normal, overdue meeting and said he intends to remain independent for the rest of the parliamentary term.
Three New Generation Movement lawmakers, Shivan Baroshki, Dariush Ali and Khalid Mohammed, made the same move. Baroshki told reporters beforehand that attending was his personal choice, one he had weighed since the previous night.
Two Halwest Movement lawmakers, Sara Muhsin and Sazgar Fayaq, also declared independence and joined the session.
Halwest later announced both had been dismissed from the movement.
In a statement, the party said its campaign slogan had been “no surrender to this authority,” yet the two lawmakers handed their votes to that same authority.
The statement added that they gained positions and money but lost trust and character.
PUK calls session illegal
The PUK suffered a significant blow. Losing three seats, combined with a matching loss for its New Generation Movement partner, costs the alliance six seats overall.
The partnership was originally built to counter KDP dominance, and Wednesday’s defections weaken its leverage in upcoming negotiations.
On Tuesday, before the session, the PUK had called it illegal, describing it as far removed from genuine partnership principles and an attempt by a single party to impose its will.
The party said that if democracy’s foundation is undermined through vote buying, threats and psychological pressure, then it would not recognize any parliament or government formed under such conditions.
KDP spokesperson Mahmoud Mohammed said afterward that the session targeted no individual or party and that the door remained open to all.
He expressed hope that boycotting parties would eventually make what he called a positive choice to help protect the region’s legitimacy.
The session comes weeks after Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court postponed, for the second time, a ruling on a lawsuit seeking to reclassify the current Kurdish government as a caretaker administration. The court is scheduled to revisit the case on December 14.
The same court has issued previous rulings that Kurdish officials describe as efforts to strip the region of constitutional authority, including a 2024 decision voiding the parliament’s extension of its own term and a ruling blocking the region from exporting oil independently of Baghdad.
Election results by party
Barzani’s party wins Iraqi Kurdistan parliamentary election in October 2024. The KDP remains the largest bloc in the 100 seat parliament, followed by the PUK and the New Generation Movement. Of 95 general seats, the KDP holds 39, the PUK holds 23 and the New Generation Movement holds 15.
The Kurdistan Islamic Union holds seven seats, Halwest holds four, the Kurdistan Justice Group holds three, the People’s Front holds two, and the Change Movement and Kurdistan Region Alliance each hold one. The remaining five seats are reserved for minority components.
(With files from Rudaw | Agencies)
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