PM Sudani in Erbil for Kurdish government formation talks

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Wednesday landed in Erbil for government formation talks with Kurdish parties, nearly a month after regional parliamentary elections were held.

Sudani was received by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani at Erbil International Airport. He is also set to meet with President Nechirvan Barzani and leaders of political parties before traveling to Sulaimani to continue his visit. 

"I’m pleased to welcome Prime Minister @mohamedshia back to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Our agenda: budgetary payments, census, regional security, and economic growth," said PM Barzani in a post on X. 

An Iraqi government source told Rudaw on Saturday that the main goal of Sudani’s visit is to “encourage” political parties to form the cabinet of the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). 

The Kurdistan Region held its long-overdue parliamentary elections on October 20 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 but political rival the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with 32 seats, and the opposition New Generation Movement with 15 seats scoring third place. 

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.

On Saturday, Aziz Ahmad, deputy chief of staff for Prime Minister Barzani, said on X that Sudani’s agenda in the visit will be “budgetary payments, oil resumption, and security issues.”

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.

Updated at 11:00 am