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Iraqi Kurdistan's Ruling Parties Split
Over Regional Premiership
1.11.2011
By Joel Wing - ekurd.net |
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November 1, 2011
Kurdish President Massoud Barzani’s Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) and Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have
ruled Kurdistan since the 1990s. The two parties
were once equals, ran together in elections, and
signed a series of power sharing agreements. In the
last couple years however, the KDP has been in the
ascendency as the PUK has lost members to the new
Change List. This has led to growing divisions
between the two, which is now being played out over
the Kurdistan premiership.
In November 2011, the PUK and KDP are supposed to
exchange the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
premiership. Current KRG Prime Minister Barham Salih
of the PUK has been in office since November 2009.
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Former Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani (R) with
current Prime Minister Barham Salih. |
When he steps down, Massoud’s nephew Nechirvan
Barzani will replace him. Nechirvan was the premier
from 2005-2009. Some in the PUK think that the KDP
should allow Salih to stay in office for two more
years like they did with Barzani. Nechirvan was
originally supposed to step down in 2008, but
President Talabani agreed to let him keep his
position against the will of his own party’s
politburo. Sources in the KDP have told several
Kurdish papers that they want the premiership back.
This is a sign of the growing divide between the two
parties. The PUK expect the KDP to reciprocate for
allowing Nechirvan staying in office for four years
by allowing Salih to do the same, but the KDP feels
more powerful now, and does not want to give the PUK
anything it doesn’t have to.
The reason why the KDP is pushing to regain the
premiership is because the PUK is much weaker now
than in previous years. Talabani’s party has lost
many of its members to the opposition Change List.
In the 2009 regional parliamentary elections for
instance, the Change List won in Sulaimaniyah, the
PUK’s home province. The decline in the PUK’s
standing has led some in the KDP to argue that they
should run Kurdistan unilaterally, and not share
power with the PUK anymore. This opinion has been
building up within the Barzani clan for quite some
time, and is finally coming out publicly.
Relinquishing the regional premiership is part of
the power sharing agreement the two parties signed
back in 2006. On January 20, 2006, the PUK and KDP
signed the Kurdistan Regional Government Unification
Agreement. It divided up all the offices and
administration in Kurdistan, as well as the regional
and Iraqi presidencies. Under the deal,www.ekurd.net
each party would hold the premiership for two years,
and then pass it off to the other. The two parties
signed two other power sharing agreements back in
1992 and 1998. The initial one broke down in 1994,
and led to a civil war, that was ended by the second
deal. When that one expired, they signed the latest
one in 2006. Now that the balance of power between
the PUK and KDP is breaking down, so could the
agreement.
The PUK started off as a breakaway faction and rival
to the KDP. In the 1990s and after the 2003
invasion, they came to be partners, and were roughly
equal in standing. In the last several years, the
PUK has been losing its support in Kurdistan. The
KDP has taken advantage of this situation by
asserting their dominance over regional politics.
The latest sign of this growing tension is the KDP’s
demand to regain the KRG premiership, despite the
PUK’s request to hold onto it for two more years
like they did with the KDP’s Nechirvan Barzani. With
the power shift between the two parties, there’s no
reason for the KDP to give into the PUK’s demands.
Despite this, the two will maintain the public
appearance of continued friendship and cooperation.
The reality is that unless Talabani can manufacture
a major comeback, his party will be increasingly
marginalized by the KDP in the Kurdistan region, and
then national politics.
Sources:
Abu-Bakir, Idris, “KDP and PUK dispute potential
swap of Prime Minister,” AK News, 9/29/11
Ahmed, Hevidar, “KDP Source: We’re Taking
Premiership,” Rudaw, 10/15/11
Alaaldin, Ranj, “Troubled times in Iraqi Kurdistan,”
Guardian, 7/23/09
Amnesty International, “Hope and Fear, Human rights
in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,” April 2009
Danly, James, “The 2009 Kurdish Elections,”
Institute for the Study of War, 7/23/09
Mohammed, Jaza, “should he stay or should he go?
doubts over iraqi Kurdish pm’s resignation,” Niqash,
10/6/11
Rudaw, “PUK Official: Party Won’t Run With KDP in
Kurdistan Election,” 10/10/11
Joel Wing, with an MA in International Relations,
Joel Wing has been researching and writing about
Iraq since 2002. His acclaimed blog, Musings on
Iraq, is currently listed by the New York Times and
the World Politics Review. In addition, Mr. Wing’s
work has been cited by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, the Guardian and the
Washington Independent. You may visit his Blog
Musings On Iraq at musingsoniraq.blogspot.com
Copyright © 2011 ekurd.net
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