A mutual delegation representing three Kurdish political parties issued a statement on Thursday while in Baghdad where they met Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
The delegation includes senior officials from Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG), Change Movement (Gorran) and Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ), three parties who oppose the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Ekurds Daily reported.
The KIG and Gorran are parties who recently withdrew from the KRG and the Coalition for Democracy and Justice is a newly-established party.
The delegation on Friday also met with the powerful Iraqi Vice President Nuri al-Maliki.
The joint delegation said in the statement that Abadi vowed to pay salaries of the Kurdistan Region’s public servants after they complete an audit of their numbers.
“We discussed [with Abadi] ways to bring about real partnership in political decision making and ways to find a fundamental resolution for all of the issues through serious dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad on basis of constitution,” the statement read. KIG, Gorran and CDJ said they demanded Abadi to prevent voter fraud and illegal voting during the upcoming elections in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.
A lawmaker from Kurdistan Islamic Union, Bahzad Zebari, expressed concerns in December that among eligible Kurdish citizens, as many as 615,000 more people are registered in the Kurdistan Region than are alive or legally entitled to vote.
Relations between Erbil and Baghdad hit lowest in the aftermath of the controversial referendum held by the Kurdistan region, which saw 92.7% of voters say “yes” to independence.
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