Shiite and Kurdish forces have reached an agreement to postpone the parliamentary elections in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region that were set for June, said Iraqi sources.
They said Kurdistan President Nechervan Barzani was expected to make an official announcement over the issue.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), headed by Masoud Barzani, had announced in March that it was going to boycott the polls, threatening to quit the political process in Iraq should political powers in Baghdad fail to respect agreements that led to the formation of the Baghdad government.
Masoud Barzani was objecting at the time to the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq’s decision to divide Kurdistan into four electoral districts and eliminating the quota of minorities.
It had also tasked the Independent High Election Commission with overseeing the elections instead of the Kurdistan region commission, sparking objections from the KDP.
A Kurdish source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Nechervan Barzani, who had paid two visits to Baghdad in the past two months, had finally reached a political settlement to postpone the elections.
It remains unclear what guarantees he received in return for the postponement.
A source close to the leaderships of the pro-Iran Shiite Coordination Framework told Asharq Al-Awsat that the visits played a decisive role in reaching an agreement over the postponement.
It explained that the majority of the players in the Framework recognize the importance of the KDP taking part in the elections because it is a strategic partner of the Shiite forces in spite of the tensions that have emerged between them in recent years.
They expected President Barzani to make an announcement over the elections next week. This will allow the KDP to submit its candidacies to the elections commission.
The source was not briefed on the guarantees and concessions that President Barzani received while he was in Baghdad.
On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani stressed during talks with the commission the need to hold the Kurdistan elections with the “participation of all parties” - a reference to the KDP.
