Leader Barzani urges boycotting parties to rejoin Parliament

Shafaq News- Erbil

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani on Wednesday urged political parties that boycotted the Kurdistan Parliament’s reopening session to return to the legislature and help advance the Kurdistan Region’s political process.

Barzani stressed that reactivating parliament was not intended to target any individual or political party, but to protect the Kurdistan Region, strengthen its constitutional institutions, and serve the public interest.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Kurdistan Parliament elected KDP candidate Vala Fareed as speaker, Ramy Noori Syawish of the Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian Christian community as deputy speaker, and Muna Nabi Nader of the Turkmen community as parliamentary secretary. All three secured 52 votes each, giving them an absolute majority.

The vote took place during the resumption of the unfinished inaugural session from December 2024, despite official boycotts by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the New Generation Movement (NGM). KDP spokesperson Mahmoud Mohammed accused both parties of paralyzing parliament for two years and urged other blocs to safeguard the legislature’s legitimacy.

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