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The Iraqi Kurdistan Region's Parliament held its inaugural session for the sixth term on Monday, but hopes for a productive start were swiftly dashed. Lawmakers failed to elect a speaker, deputy speaker, or secretary—critical leadership positions required to formalise parliamentary operations.

The session, convened in Erbil, was adjourned indefinitely as political divisions deepened.

The assembly opened with 97 of the 100 elected members swearing their oaths, overseen by Mohammed Sulaiman of the New Generation Movement. As the oldest elected member, Sulaiman assumed the role of interim chair. Nineteen consul generals and international diplomats attended, underscoring the symbolic importance of the event.

However, the session's procedural momentum faltered as rival political blocs, including members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), walked out. Their absence broke the quorum, leaving the legislature unable to progress.

"The KDP and PUK blocs left the parliament's hall, hence breaking the quorum," Sulaiman explained during a press briefing later that day. "I tried again, but the legal quorum was not met."

Criticism was swift. Ali Hama Salih, leader of the National Stance Movement, accused the ruling parties of manipulating the session for their own ends, claiming that the by-laws of parliament had been breached.

"According to the parliament's by-law, the speaker, the deputy speaker, and the secretary should be elected in the first session, which is only for 24 hours," Salih told °®Âþµº. "Extending this period as an open-ended session is illegal, and there is no legal solution for this issue in the region's binding laws."

Salih further announced his party's decision to remain in opposition and boycott future sessions related to forming the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). He was scathing in his criticism of the caretaker government, which has been in power for nearly two years.

"The ruling parties want to extend the status quo at a time when the Kurdistan region is passing through its worst times since 1991," he said, pointing to the ongoing failure to pay public sector salaries, which has provoked protests and boycotts by civil servants.

Stalemate over power-sharing

At the heart of the impasse lies the longstanding rivalry between the KDP and PUK. The KDP, which won 39 seats in the October elections, insists on maintaining control of both the presidency and premiership—key positions currently held by Nechirvan Barzani and Masrour Barzani, members of the influential Barzani family. The PUK, with 23 seats, is pressing for a more equitable distribution of power, including a role for its leaders in either the presidency or premiership, or the retention of the Interior Ministry portfolio.

Farman Hassan, a Kurdish legal expert, highlighted the procedural implications of the deadlock. "The Kurdistan Region's elections law and the parliament's by-law stipulate that the speaker, the deputy, and the secretary should be elected in the first session," Hassan told TNA. "When a session's quorum is ended, this legally means the session is left as an open-ended one and will resume when the necessary quorum, fifty plus one, is gathered."

Hassan suggested the stalemate could persist until after Iraq's next parliamentary elections, expected in late 2025.

In 2010, Iraq's Supreme Federal Court issued a landmark ruling in a case involving a similar situation in the Iraqi Parliament, where the inaugural session was postponed indefinitely. The court deemed the decision unconstitutional, citing Article 55 of Iraq's Constitution, which mandates that the first session must elect a speaker and deputy speakers without delay.

This precedent is now expected to influence the current crisis in the Kurdistan Region's parliament. Legal experts and political analysts suggest that Kurdish lawmakers and political parties may file a lawsuit against the interim parliamentary speaker, Mohammed Sulaiman, over the indefinite postponement of the inaugural session. The goal would be to compel the Federal Court to issue a binding ruling ordering the immediate resumption of the session.

Internal divisions

The New Generation Movement, which secured 15 seats, has positioned itself as a reformist bloc, proposing changes to the entrenched power-sharing model between the KDP and PUK. Its leader, Shaswar Abdul Wahid, has argued that the party holding the premiership should not also control other senior government posts. This stance signals a potential shift away from the traditional political arrangements that have governed the region since it gained semi-autonomy in 1991.

Other opposition parties, including the Kurdistan Justice Group (KJG) and the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), have also criticised the election process, alleging voter fraud. The KJG faced internal discord when one of its MPs, Hero Attar, defied party orders by attending the swearing-in ceremony. Her decision prompted her expulsion and a storm of online harassment.

The parliamentary deadlock comes amid worsening economic conditions in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. The caretaker government's inability to pay public sector salaries has heightened public frustration, with employees staging walkouts in protest. The region, once seen as a bastion of stability within Iraq, now faces a confluence of political and economic crises that threaten its governance and public trust.

The October elections were the first held in the Kurdistan Region since 2018. The KDP emerged as the largest party, followed by the PUK and the New Generation Movement. Five seats were reserved for minority groups, while the remaining 95 were contested among Kurdish factions. Yet, the election results have done little to resolve tensions between the KDP and PUK, which continue to dominate the political landscape.

Sources close to the negotiations have suggested that no resolution is likely before Iraq's national elections in 2025. "The power-sharing arrangement in the Kurdistan region is closely tied to the position of Iraq's president," a Kurdish source told TNA. "It's likely that we will not see a new KRG cabinet until after those elections."

As the deadlock persists, the Kurdistan Region's political future remains uncertain, with its legislature and government paralysed by infighting. For now, hopes of progress in one of Iraq's most strategically important regions remain elusive.