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Barzani term limit disputes roil Kurdistan politics

The end of President Barzani's final term – just two months away – has reignited fundamental arguments over the structure of Kurdistan's incomplete democracy.
KRG President Masoud Barzani gives an interview in Erbil on June 2, 2013. (AZAD LASHKARI/Reuters)

ERBIL - Just two months from the end of Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani's term, politicians are scrambling to avoid a governance crisis and leadership vacuum.

The president is legally barred from a third term, and Barzani was already granted a controversial two-year extension to his second term, which is about to expire. But political leaders remain deadlocked over fundamental questions of how to elect the next president and balance the presidency's powers with those of the Cabinet and Parliament.

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