ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has dismissed media reports claiming that an agreement was reached on the Iraqi presidency or the formation of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) during Wednesday’s meeting between party leader Bafel Talabani and President Masoud Barzani.
“A positive meeting was held between Mr. Masoud Barzani and Mr. Bafel Talabani in a very calm atmosphere,” PUK spokesperson Karwan Gaznaiy said in a statement.
“Despite the meeting being positive, some media outlets and social media platforms reported that an agreement had been reached. We officially dismiss these rumors,” Gaznaiy added. “If any agreement is reached between the two sides, we will announce it to the public.”
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has not yet issued an official statement regarding the outcome of the meeting.
Wednesday’s meeting follows talks held last week between the two leaders and was expected to focus specifically on reaching a decision regarding the presidential post, a senior KDP official told Rudaw.
Nineteen candidates - both Kurdish and Arab - have been approved to run for the position. However, the presidency is widely expected to go to either the KDP, the PUK, or a consensus candidate backed by both parties. Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the post has largely been held by the PUK.
The Iraqi parliament has indefinitely postponed a scheduled session to elect a new president. A session planned for Sunday was delayed, according to state media, with no new date announced.
Iraq held parliamentary elections in early November. Final results were announced later that month and ratified by the Federal Supreme Court in mid-December. Under Iraq’s informal power-sharing system, the speakership is allocated to Sunni Arabs, the premiership to Shiite parties, and the presidency to the Kurds.
The new parliament convened on December 29 to elect its speaker and two deputies. According to the constitution, a president must be elected within 30 days of the first parliamentary session. Once sworn in, the president has 15 days to nominate the candidate of the largest parliamentary bloc to form a government.
Among the 19 approved candidates, the most prominent contenders are PUK nominee Nizar Amedi and KDP candidate Fuad Hussein, who currently serves as Iraq’s foreign minister.
Since 2005, a political understanding between the KDP and PUK has allocated the presidency to the PUK. However, the KDP now argues that the post belongs to the Kurdish people as a whole rather than to any single party, calling for a consensus candidate endorsed by all Kurdish factions.