The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has emerged as the leading political party in the recent Iraqi Kurdistan parliamentary elections, according to preliminary results released by Iraq’s electoral commission. During a press conference in Baghdad, the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced the preliminary outcomes of the elections held on 20 October in the Kurdistan Region. The KDP secured 809,197 votes, placing it ahead of its long-standing rival, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which received 408,141 votes. The New Generation party, the region’s largest opposition grou…