Arbil, Sept 16, (VOI) – Kwistan Abdullah, the deputy in the Kurdish
parliament's Green Bloc, was elected to lead the bloc, thus becoming the first
woman ever to head a bloc in the Iraqi Kurdistan region's parliament since it
was first established in 1992.
"Members of the Green Bloc, during a meeting with the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK) politburo, unanimously elected Abdullah to lead it in place of
deputy Othman Bani Marani," Green Bloc member Khaman Zarrar told the independent
news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
"The change was to activate the bloc's performance inside parliament," she
added.
The Green Bloc, affiliated to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's PUK, has 40 out
of a total 111 seats in the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan parliament.
The number of seats is the same obtained by the Yellow Bloc of Iraqi Kurdistan
Region President Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). The
remaining seats are occupied by other parliamentary blocs.
