THE WHOLE BUNCH COMING TOGETHER ? / KDP could form a majority government

12.02.2014 – Hemin Salih – BasNews, Erbil – The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is considering the formation of a government on the basis of a majority as an alternative if the consensus formation fails to reach an agreement.

144 days have passed since the elections took place and a cabinet has not been formed yet. The KDP has warned other parties against publicly announcing the causes behind the delay, as they are the leading party and often get accused for the slow process.  

KDP wants to distribute posts on the basis of elections result; however both the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Gorran (Change Movement) are also key factors behind the delay of the government formation. Gorran agrees that the KDP should distribute posts on the basis of election result, while the PUK prefers KDP to form the Cabinet on the basis of its strategic agreement between KDP and PUK.

According to information obtained by BasNews, KDP will consider a majority formation as an alternative, when and if the consensus formation is unsuccessful, so that every party will be free to take part in the government or withdraw. Kakamin Najar, member of the KDP political bureau told BasNews that attempts are still being made to form a consensus government, but if the attempts were to fail then KDP will consider a plan B: a majority government. “We believe that all political parties will decrease their demands for posts and will take part in forming the new cabinet, once the alternative plan is implemented,” said Najar. Sadie Ahmed Pire, a member of the PUK political bureau told BasNews that he believes there is still time to form a consensus government cabinet. “PUK has already decided to take part in the new government, regardless of whether it is a majority or consensus government,” Pire added.  

Sheikh Jengi Salayi, member of Gorran leadership council, told BasNews that they want posts based on the election result. “Otherwise we will not take part in the government and remain in opposition as we have good experience in it in the recent years,” Salayi explained.  

Mohammad Hakim, Spokesman of Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG) has published a statement in the KIG official website saying they believe that there is no logical to distributing posts on an election result basis and it should be based on parties agreement. However, Ali Awni, member of KDP’s leadership council told BasNews that, “It is not logical to not count on people’s votes and parliamentary seats. People’s votes give legitimacy to the government, not agreement between political parties.” Aziz Rauf, a political analyst, believes that reorganizing Kurdish parties is very important at the moment. Therefore, attempts at forming a consensus government should continue. If that is unsuccessful, a majority government should be formed as a last alternative.

“The delay of the government formation is due to a political party that has achieved fewer votes, despite having a large number of Peshmerga, who did not vote for them,” added Rauf.