Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)

The Kurdish Democratic Party was founded in 1946 by Mustafa Barzani in the short-lived Kurdish Mahabad Republic in Iran. Despite its emergence in Iran, the party became most prominent in Iraqi Kurdistan, where Barzani’s group became popular with the local population. The party faced major campaigns of repression by the governments of Iraq under several different leaderships. The KDP engaged in battles against the Iraqi government for decades. The KDP and its supporters are associated with Kurdish nationalism and generally sit to the right of center on the political spectrum, associating with traditionalists and social conservatives. The party is led by Masoud Barzani since 1979. The KDP is currently in coalition with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) forming the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG).  Since 1991, the KDP has held the most seats of any party in the Kurdistan region’s Parliament.