Tensions grow over next KRG head of government and the ‘fifty fifty’ culture

News and comment by The Kurdistan Tribune:

According to the terms of the strategic relationship between the PUK and KDP, the post of head of government should be changed every two years. For the last two years Dr Barham Salih, from the PUK, has been prime minister. By the end of this month either the KDP will put forward its candidate for the post or else Dr Salih will stay.

We have the example where the head of the Kurdistan Parliament is a KDP candidate and his deputy is a PUK candidate. We have the President of Kurdistan, Masud Barzani from the KDP. According to the agreement his deputy should be a PUK candidate, although up to now he has no deputy.

The culture of a ‘fifty fifty’ division of government posts is inherited from the early days of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the election of 1992,when the PUK did not accept defeat. This culture has crippled the whole management system of the KRG and contributed nothing to bringing fresh talent into the mainstream of Kurdish politics.

The issue of who will be prime minister has sharpened the political divide between the KDP and PUK.

Sarwar Abdulrahman, an MP on the PUK list, told reporters: “the President of Kurdistan should have a deputy in all cases, and the head of government post better stay with Barham Salih than anyone else because Barham Salih can continue with the projects that he started two years ago. Sarwar Abdulrahmn continued: “Kurdistan better have Barham Salih if it wants a successful government“.

President Barzani believes that, if the head of government reverts back to the KDP, this will be more good news for the Gorran Party, since Gorran thinks that Barham Salih is the PUK’s final card in politics.

Gorran doesn’t want to see Barham Salih stay in power and believes that he has achieved nothing during his premiership.

However, Mulla Bhaktyar told PUK politburo members at their recent meeting that: “If the KDP asks for the head of government post to go back to the KDP, then the PUK has the right to ask for a reshuffle of all the posts in Baghdad and Kurdistan”.

The most likely KDP candidate for the head of government is Nichiravan Barzani.