Iraqi Kurdistan parliament members — or some of them, anyway — held their first session Feb. 18, electing an interim speaker and nominating candidates for top government posts amid a boycott by its second-largest party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Two members of the influential Barzani family, cousins Nechirvan and Masrour, were nominated as president and prime minister, respectively. Vala Fareed became the first female parliament speaker in the region. She was nominated by the largest party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), but is to be replaced by a PUK nominee once the parties settle their disputes.

Hemb Hawrami of the KDP was elected interim deputy speaker, and Muna Qahwachi, a woman from the Turkmen ethnic component of parliament, was elected interim second deputy speaker, PUK spokesman Saedi Ahmed Pira told Al-Monitor. All the office-holders are subject to change.

The two ruling parties announced Feb. 5 that they had reached a draft agreement for forming a government. The pact covers power-sharing, reactivation of the presidency, normalization of relations between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil and the Iraqi federal government in Baghdad, and — supposedly — dealing with controversies over Cabinet responsibilities.