Kurdistan MPs are expected to vote on Kosrat Rasul, a senior official of the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), becoming the parliament's vice president, according to an anonymous source.
The post of VP for Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani has been vacant since 2009, though Rasul was the sole nominee for the role.

The election of Rasul would see the post filled concurrently with the government swap between the PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), as per a strategic deal between the two ruling parties.

The source added that the vote of confidence for PM elect Nechirvan Barzani of the KDP and his deputy Imad Ahmed from the PUK will take place this Monday.

The PUK general secretary and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and KDP and Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani will not attend the ceremony of giving a vote of confidence because Talabani will be busy with the Arab summit in Baghdad and Barzani will travel to the US and Europe, according to the source.

Neither the KDP nor the PUK have decided on their ministers for the seventh cabinet yet, the source added.

KDP politburo member Kakamin Najjar said that the party will make the final decision on the ministers within the next three days.

PUK politburo spokesperson Azad Jundiyani also said that his party will nominate more than two people for the ministerial posts.

He added that the PUK and the KDP have not yet discussed whether or not they will switch the ministers among themselves.

The seventh cabinet is expected to be formed on April 7, one month after Massoud Barzani entrusted his nephew Nechirvan Barzani and Imad Ahmed with the task of forming the new cabinet.







AKnews