Iraqi PM Sudani to visit Erbil this week

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani will visit Erbil this week as Kurdish parties prepare for government formation talks, an Iraqi government source told Rudaw on Saturday.

Sudani is expected to meet with Kurdistan Region officials, according to the source, who said the goal of the visit is to “encourage” political parties to form the cabinet of the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). 

The Kurdistan Region held its parliamentary elections last month, after two years of delays. The vote resulted in a consolidation of power for the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) which won 39 seats, followed by its government ally and rival the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with 23 seats, and the opposition New Generation Movement with 15 seats.

The main Islamist parties - Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal) - took seven and three seats, respectively. The National Stance Movement (Halwest), led by popular former lawmaker Ali Hama Saleh, obtained four. Lahur Talabany’s People’s Front (Baray Gal) got two seats while the Change Movement (Gorran), once a powerful opposition force, took just one seat.

Komal, the KIU, Baray Gal, and Halwest denounced the election results, alleging fraud and voter manipulation, and questioned the reliability of the voting machines. 

Despite the finalization of the results in late October, the parties have yet to start government formation talks.

Earlier on Saturday, Aziz Ahmad, deputy chief of staff for KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, confirmed Sudani’s upcoming visit in a post on X.

“Among other things, the budgetary payments, oil resumption, and security issues will dominate the agenda,” he said.

Erbil and Baghdad have recently made progress towards resuming Kurdish oil exports, which have been halted for a year and a half. The Iraqi cabinet agreed to a higher rate of compensation for oil transportation and production costs, though the proposal still needs to be approved by the parliament.