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Iraqi Kurds still deadlocked over new government

Iraqi Kurdish political parties remain in a stalemate over the formation of a new regional government, six months after parliamentary elections were held in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Iraq's Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani shows his ink-stained finger at a polling station in Arbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, about 350 km (217 miles) north of Baghdad, September 21, 2013. Iraqi Kurds went to the polls on Saturday to vote for a new parliament at a time when their oil-producing region is seeking greater autonomy from Baghdad, against a backdrop of violent instability in the rest of Iraq and the wider Middle East. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari  (IRAQ - Tags: ELECTIONS POLITICS) -
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ERBIL, Iraq — The new government has still not been formed in Iraqi Kurdistan since the regional parliamentary elections were held Sept. 21, 2013. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani insisted April 2 that the new cabinet would be formed before the national elections scheduled for April 30, but the deadlock will likely continue beyond that point.

But Amanj Abdullah of the Kurdish opposition party Gorran, which surprised many by finishing second in the September elections, told Al-Monitor it is unlikely that a regional government will be formed before Iraq’s national elections. The frustration at the delayed process has been felt across the Iraqi Kurdish political spectrum.

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