Vala Fareed

Vala Fareed (born 1975) is a Minister of State for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. She was previously elected as the first female speaker of the legislature in February 2019.

Vala Fareed
Minister of State Kurdistan Regional Government
Assumed office
11 July 2019
Speaker of the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament
In office
18 February 2019 – 11 July 2019
Preceded byYousif Muhammed Sadiq
Succeeded byRewaz Fayeq
Personal details
Born1975
Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
NationalityKurdish, Iraq
Political partyKDP
OccupationLawyer, politician

Born in Erbil, Fareed has a degree in law, and was elected to the Kurdistan Region Parliament in September 2018.[1]

On 18 February 2019, Fareed was nominated by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and received 68 votes. The session was boycotted by politicians from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and Fareed was appointed as interim speaker until the PUK and KDP are able to reach agreement on a permanent appointment.[1][2][3][4]

According to VOA, the KDP stated that once they and the PUK had reached an agreement, the role of speaker would revert to being a political appointee of the PUK. "Whenever there is an agreement between the two parties, we will withdraw our candidate and vote for the PUK candidate, per our agreement," said the PDK bloc leader Umed Khoshnaw.[5] A draft agreement reached on February 5 requires a PUK representative to hold the post of parliamentary speaker.[6]

Fareed's appointment means that two of the three top positions in the KRG parliament are occupied by women, with Muna Kahveci, from the Turkmen Reform Party, also being elected as second deputy speaker. The KRG parliament operates a quota system requiring 30% of MPs to be female.[7]

In 2019, Fareed was appointed as Regional Minister of State in the KRG Cabinet.[8][9]

References
  1. "Iraqi Kurdistan elects first female interim speaker". The National. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  2. "Arab24 - Iraq – First female speaker of Kurdistan Region parliament". arab24.com. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  3. "ISHM: February 15 – 21, 2019 - Iraq". ReliefWeb. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  4. "Iraq's Kurdish regional parliament elects interim speaker amid boycott". FijiTimes. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  5. "Iraq's Kurdish Regional Parliament Elects Interim Speaker Amid Boycott". VOA. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  6. Menmy, Dana Taib (2019-02-22). "Iraqi Kurdistan still working out kinks in new parliament". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  7. Kurdistan24. "Despite female parliament speaker, experts say political equality still an issue in Kurdistan Region". Kurdistan24. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  8. "Outspoken Iraqi politician commends KRG on appointment of female ministers". www.kurdistan24.net. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  9. "Vala Fareed Ibrahim". Kurdistan Regional Government. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
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