Boycott Freezes Kurdistan Parliament as KDP Weighs Quorum Gambit and PUK Eyes Possible Split
Most factions in the Kurdistan Parliament skipped today’s session, with parties holding about 53 seats refusing to attend. The KDP says the deadlock with the PUK shows no sign of ending and is weighing whether to form a quorum by drawing individual MPs from rival lists, amid speculation that the PUK could respond by moving toward its own assembly.
Iraqi Kurdistan’s regional parliament is effectively stalled after most rival factions refused to attend a scheduled session, deepening a political standoff and raising the risk of competing institutions.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), New Generation, the Kurdistan Islamic Union, Halwest, the Justice Group, and Gorran all stayed away from the meeting. Together, they hold around 53 seats, enough to block the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) from moving ahead with a fully attended session.
KDP figures argue that the deadlock with the PUK shows no prospect of being resolved and say there is no justification for keeping parliament paralysed. The party is now focused on whether it can secure a quorum by persuading individual MPs from boycotting factions to attend, even if their parties officially refuse to take part.
That approach carries its own risk. There is already speculation that if the KDP succeeds in drawing enough individual MPs to assemble a quorum without a political settlement, the PUK could respond by moving toward establishing its own parliamentary framework.
Such a split would turn today’s absentee session into the starting point for a wider institutional break, with two centres claiming legislative authority in Iraqi Kurdistan. For now, the key signals will be whether the KDP manages to convene a formal sitting with enough MPs in the chamber and whether the PUK or its allies take any concrete step toward a separate assembly if that happens.
Sources
- OSINT