MPs select Masrour Barzani as new Prime Minister of Kurdistan Regional Government

11th June 2019 – Today Kurdistan Parliament’s MPs nominated and selected Mr. Masrour Masoud Mustafa Barzani to be the next Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Eighty-seven Members of Parliament, out of the 97 who were present, voted to select Mr. Barzani as the new Prime Minister to form a cabinet and lead the country’s executive authority. Of all 111 Members of Parliament, 14 did not attend the sitting.

Dr. Vala Fareed, Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament, asked the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) as the winning party in the last Kurdistan general election to name its Prime Ministerial candidate. Mr. Omed Khoshnaw, head of the KDP’s parliamentary bloc, said that his party nominated Mr. Barzani. The nomination was then put to a vote.

Masrour Barzani is Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council and a member of the KDP Politburo.

MPs of the KDP, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Gorran (Change Movement), Sardam Coalition (Socialist Democratic Party), Turkmen parties and Christian parties voted in support of the KDP’s nomination of Mr. Barzani. The Toward Reform Coalition (Kurdistan Islamic Union) attended the sitting, but did not vote. The New Generation Movement and Kurdistan Islamic Group did not attend the sitting.  

Speaker Fareed announced that the Presidency of Parliament will now ask President Nechirvan Barzani to task the new Prime Minister with forming a cabinet within 30 days.