Nearly 19 months after the parliamentary elections in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the deadlock over forming the region's tenth cabinet persists; meanwhile, the rift between the two main parties—the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)—has once again raised concerns about a return to a "dual administration" system.

A senior PUK official warned *Asharq Al-Awsat* that if the current political stalemate continues, the Kurdistan Region could once again drift toward the separate administration of areas under the respective influence of the two parties. According to the official, the divide between the KDP and the PUK is now the deepest it has been since the unification of the region's governing structures in 2006.

This official held the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) primarily responsible for the deadlock, alleging that the party seeks to control all key government positions and is unwilling to make genuine concessions to other political factions to reach an agreement.

In contrast, a KDP official described the idea of ​​a return to a "dual administration" system as "political suicide" in an interview with *Asharq Al-Awsat*. He emphasized that political disputes should be resolved through parliament, dialogue, and democratic mechanisms, rather than by institutionalizing political and geographic divisions within the region.

The Kurdistan Region held its parliamentary elections in October 2024, yet—despite the passage of approximately 19 months—the two main parties have still not reached an agreement on the allocation of ministries and key government positions; this issue has plunged the process of forming the Region's tenth government into the longest political deadlock in recent years and heightened concerns regarding the future of its political structure.