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Is the sun setting on KDP-PUK dominance in Iraqi Kurdistan?

Poverty, widespread disillusionment and the emergence of new political players could spell the beginning of a new political era in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Iraqi policemen look at supporters waving the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) flags during a sand storm at a rally ahead of March 7 parliamentarian elections in Kirkuk, 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad, February 23, 2010. Picture taken February 23, 2010.  REUTERS/Ako Rasheed (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - GM1E62O14Z601

After 26 years of governing oil-rich Iraqi Kurdistan, the region's two main political parties are on the verge of economic and political bankruptcy.

While officials of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) live in luxurious houses with 24/7 electricity, the majority of residents have not been receiving their salaries, which had previously been reduced, and the Kurdish economy is in a free fall, creating unprecedented levels of poverty and resentment. The situation has become so dangerously unstable that a senior peshmerga commander on Feb. 11 threatened to seize oil tankers unless the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) pays soldiers' their salaries.

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