After the results of the
1992 parliamentary election, the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with both parties holding 50 out of 100 seats, chose to create a unity government unrecognized by
Ba'athist Iraq. The unity government collapsed in 1994 and caused the
Iraqi Kurdish Civil War to break out that ended in 1998. This resulted in the establishment of two Kurdistan Regional Governments, a KDP-controlled one in
Erbil and a PUK-controlled one in
Sulaymaniyah, each with their own president.
parliamentary elections were then held on 30 January 2005 and on 14 June 2005 the KDP-leader
Masoud Barzani was sworn in by the parliament in as new president and
Kosrat Rasul Ali as the new
vice president. In 2009, the system was then changed to elect the president and on 25 July 2009
presidential elections were held resulting in Barzani's re-election. On 29 October 2017, amidst the
2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, Barzani announced his intentions to step down as president on November 1st. == List of presidents ==