The formation of a new government is on the horizon for Iraq and world leaders are taking note. Recently United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called autonomous Kurdistan regional President Masoud Barzani to discuss the current state of affairs in the region. The two leaders went over the need to continue bilateral consultations and relations in line with Iraq’s best interest. They spoke about Iraq’s formation of a renewed government and how that will affect the future of not only Kurdistan but national interests as a whole.

A statement released by the Kurdistan presidential office read that, “In the telephone conversation, the political situation in Iraq was discussed. The U.S. Secretary of State commended and valued the role played by President Masoud Barzani in the Iraqi political process following parliamentary elections.” Masoud Barzani is the father of the current Kurdistani Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani. Both men are prominent leading figureheads within the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) political party. The party is largely kept within the family as far as power goes and is run closer to that of an organized crime family than a political organization. They even have access to their own privatized military forces, the 80th forces Peshmerga.

Iraq’s new parliament shall meet for the first time next week and a new pair of parliamentary deputies and the speaker will be selected at that time. The movement to form the new government has increased exponentially now that the Iraqi federal court’s ruling to conduct a partial manual recount of parliamentary election votes has concluded. The national outcry was heard from various political groups over the initial electoral count but despite claims of fraudulent voting practices, nothing has changed in terms of seats and power.

The boldest move by the KDP so far has been an attempted alliance with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) political group. The PUK and KDP are long-standing enemies who even fought a civil war against each other at one point. Despite their history, if the two groups were to unite in parliament they would hold the majority of seats within the new Iraqi government. If this can be accomplished, the new Iraq may be run by the Kurds on several levels.