Iraqi Kurdistan’s long-serving leader Masoud Barzani said he would step down as president this week, triggering a factional dispute in parliament over how his powers should be distributed that has amplified tensions in the autonomous region. “I refuse to continue in my post as the Kurdistan regional president,” Mr Barzani said in a letter that was read out in the Iraqi Kurdistan regional parliament on Sunday. Mr Barzani asked lawmakers not to try to extend his term when it expires on November 1.
 “I will continue the struggle for achieving the rights of our nation and preserving its achievements,” he wrote. The Kurdistan Regional Government of northern Iraq is still reeling from weeks of conflict since it held an independence referendum last month. The plebiscite, which was contested by Baghdad and rejected internationally, backfired on the KRG when it triggered clashes with the central government and a huge loss of territory to Iraqi forces. Mr Barzani’s letter marks a rapid fall from grace.
Only weeks ago he was the champion of his people’s long-harboured dream of statehood. But the move proved to be a gamble that Mr Barzani lost in spectacular fashion, as he faced the wrath of Baghdad and a surprise defection from the region’s main rival party, which aligned itself with the central government after the vote.
After enjoying an unprecedented level of self-rule for several years, the KRG faces two grave political crises: first, in its relations with Baghdad, now bent on curtailing its autonomy; and second, from within the region itself, as different political factions squabble over how to handle the fallout, and who should now lead the regional government.
A row broke out in the region’s parliament almost immediately after Mr Barzani’s statement was read, local media reported, and proceedings were halted for over an hour due to disputes between different political factions over how KRG presidential powers should be allocated.
The parliament eventually passed a bill apportioning power as Mr Barzani recommended, over the objections of opposition lawmakers, some of whom demanded presidential powers instead be handed over to the parliamentary speaker. The row spread among rival party factions on Sunday evening, as a a crowd of protesters stormed the assembly. Some demonstrators beat up a lawmaker criticising Mr Barzani during a news conferencel while others attacked the crew of an opposition television channel.
By late evening, residents reported that many more people, some carrying sticks, had made their way onto parliament property. Earlier this month, the KRG postponed both presidential and parliamentary elections, which had been scheduled for November 1 due to the crisis with Baghdad. The KRG parliament extended its own term, but the fate of the presidency is now unclear.
Mr Barzani held the office of KRG presidency from 2005. His term officially expired in 2013 but was extended twice, helped by US officials pressing rival parties to accept the deal. But Mr Barzani has since defied his long-time ally, ignoring US objections to the planned independence referendum and leading a passionate campaign for a Yes vote to break away from Iraq, which received the majority of votes last month. Baghdad swiftly retaliated against a vote it deemed illegal, shutting down the KRG’s international airspace and seizing large swaths of territory held by the Kurdish peshmerga since 2014, including the oil-rich Kirkuk province. Those advances sparked clashes last week, after Iraqi forces, supported by Iranian-backed paramilitary groups, began approaching well-established KRG territory. Washington brokered a short-term truce that was extended this weekend.
In a televised speech on Sunday evening, Mr Barzani confirmed he had resigned and delivered an emotional rallying call to his supporters, saying: “Before [my election in] 2005, and during the presidency, and from now on: I am the same Masoud Barzani.
I am a peshmerga and I will continue to do whatever is needed and will stand by my people in their struggle for independence.” He also argued that Baghdad used the referendum as a pretext for a long-planned offensive to take Kurdish-held territory. “Their goal wasn’t implementing the constitution but breaking the will of the people of Kurdistan,” he said.
Mr Barzani, a central figure of Iraqi Kurdish politics for decades, is unlikely to disappear from the scene. In an interview with the Associated Press, Hemin Hawrami, a top Barzani aide, said the KRG leader would “stay in Kurdish politics and lead the high political council”.
Critics have argued that the council, an opaque body set up after the referendum, could be used as a vehicle for Mr Barzani to continue playing a primary political role without a formal government post Many of Mr Barzani’s governmental powers may stay in the family as well. Regional analysts anticipate that his nephew, KRG prime minister Nechirvan Barzani, is likely to be allocated some presidential duties. Mr Barzani’s son and leading KRG security official, Masrour, is also likely to accrue some of the elder Barzani’s powers.