BAGHDAD – Speaking during his weekly press briefing on Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi remained inflexible to run parliament and local elections on time, saying there will be “no postponement of elections at all”. He also promised to resolve pending issues with Kurdistan Region, including employees’ salaries. Some Sunni groups have shown a preference to call off elections which the Cabinet had slated for May 12th in order to give time to civilians displaced by the war against the Islamic State militants to repatriate and vote. Speaking about the crisis with Kurdistan Region Abadi said: “We seek to resolve all pending issues with Kurdistan Region, and we are serious about disbursing the salaries of all of the region’s employees”, adding that his government remains eager to resolve all disputes with Erbil. Representatives of the governments of Baghdad and Erbil have discussed over the past week to resolve pending issues caused from a poll the region held in September considered unconstitutional, in which a majority voted for independence from Iraq. Baghdad also prompted it to take over disputed areas and border crossings, and to impose an air embargo on Kurdistan. Another contentious issue between both governments has been the payment of Kurdish employees’ salaries: Baghdad has asked Erbil to make an accurate count of its employees, suggesting paying the salaries from its oil exports’ revenues. Erbil, meanwhile, argued that the revenues would not suffice for the payments, and had also objected to its share in the proposed federal budget.
