KDP, PUK summit seeks resolution to government crisis

Shafaq News – Erbil

Leaders from the Kurdistan Region’s two main political parties are currently engaging in high-level discussions aimed at ending the political deadlock that has stalled governance.

According to Shafaq News correspondent, senior figures from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) met to resolve outstanding disputes over forming the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraq’s Federal government. The discussions also considered the selection of Iraq’s next President as well as the conditions necessary to resume the Kurdistan Parliament’s sessions, which have been suspended for months.

Tensions between the KDP and PUK have effectively paralyzed the regional legislature since the October 2024 elections. In that vote, the KDP captured 39 of the 100 parliamentary seats, while the PUK secured 23. Kurdish Lawmakers briefly convened on December 3, but efforts to elect a speaker and form a cabinet stalled, resulting in an indefinite suspension of parliamentary activity.

The rivalry between the parties extends beyond the Kurdistan Region. In Iraq’s 2025 parliamentary elections, the KDP won 26 seats across the country, compared with 15 for the PUK. Iraq’s post-2003 power-sharing system traditionally assigns the presidency to a Kurdish politician—historically from the PUK—while the KDP maintains control of the Kurdistan Region presidency.

However, following the recent elections during which the KDP emerged as the strongest Kurdish political party, the group renewed its interest in the presidency in line with the current parliamentary standing.

Read more: Stronger at the ballot box, weaker at the table: Kurdistan enters 2026 talks divided