In response to pressure from political blocs, the Kurdistan Democratic Party ends its boycott of the Kirkuk Provincial Council and decides to return.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Kirkuk Provincial Council announced on Tuesday that it has ended its boycott of the council’s sessions and meetings and will return to attending them, following the approval of the party leadership and in response to the demands of the participating political blocs. DailyNews Reports
Hassan Majeed, head of the party bloc in the Kirkuk Provincial Council, said in a press conference attended by a Shafaq News Agency correspondent that “the party leadership has agreed to the return of the bloc members to the provincial council meetings and to end the boycott that continued during the past period.”
He added that “the decision to return came in response to the demands of all political blocs that called for the party’s participation in the sessions, in order to ensure the strengthening of institutional work and participation in discussing service and administrative files that concern the people of the governorate.”
Majid pointed out that “the return aims to contribute to decision-making related to the governorate and to activate the role of its council during the next stage.”
This step comes after nearly two years of boycotting council sessions by members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in protest against the formation of the Kirkuk local government at the Al-Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad without their participation, which is expected to strengthen the completion of the legal quorum and the participation of all components in managing the affairs of the governorate.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party’s boycott of the Kirkuk Provincial Council meetings dates back to the crisis that erupted following the “Al-Rasheed Hotel” session in Baghdad in August 2024, during which the local administration of the province was formed and Rebwar Taha was elected governor with the support of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Arab and Christian forces, in contrast to the objection of the Democratic Party, the Turkmen Front and a number of Arab forces who considered the session to be contrary to political agreements and outside the framework of holding the council inside Kirkuk.
Since then, the Democratic Party has continued its boycott of council meetings, asserting that its position represents an extension of its objection to the outcomes of the “Al-Rashid Hotel Agreement” and its non-recognition of the mechanism by which the power-sharing process in the province was managed.
In April 2026, the rotation of positions agreement was implemented, with Ribwar Taha resigning and Mohammed Samaan being elected governor of Kirkuk, but the Kurdistan Democratic Party renewed its boycott of the session.
Shafaq.com