KDP: distribution of Barzani’s powers could lead to post’s abrogation

Erbil (IraqiNews.com) A senior official at Kurdistan Region’s ruling party has said that President Masoud Barzani’s resignation, and the subsequent distribution of his powers, could eventually lead to abrogating the presidential post altogether.

The absence of the president “would not represent a constitutional void,” Saadi Ahmed, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s politburo, said, as quoted by Almaalomah website. “The parliament’s vote for delegating the region’s president is a preliminary move towards the freezing and abrogation of the post,” Ahmed added, arguing that the presidential post is not mentioned in the constitution.

“The case will remain so until elections,” he said. “The matter will be left to accord on either electing a new president or turning the system of government to a parliamentary one as is the case with the federal government,” Ahmed added.

Barzani said in a televised speech and in a letter to the parliament on Sunday that he was not going to extend his term beyond November 1st. His announcement came after Iraqi federal forces took over several Kurdish-held areas in Kirkuk, Nineveh and Diyala provinces from Kurdish Peshmerga troops earlier this month in response to an independence referendum the semi-autonomous region held in September, in which 92 percent voted for independence from Iraq.

A week before Barzani’s announcement, the Kurdish parliament called off presidential and parliamentary polls, previously slated for November, for eight months as no candidates applied.