Vala Fareed (born 1975) is a Minister of State for the

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region ( ku, هەرێمی کوردستان, translit=Herêmî Kurdistan; ar, إقليم كردستان), abbr. KRI, is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok, ...

of Iraq. She was previously elected as the first female speaker of the legislature in February 2019. Born in

Erbil Erbil, also called Hawler (, ar, أربيل, Arbīl; syr, ܐܲܪܒܹܝܠ, Arbel), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It lies in the Erbil Governorate. It has an estimated population of around 1,600,000. Hu ...

, Fareed has a degree in law, and was elected to the

Kurdistan Region Parliament The Parliament of Kurdistan ( ku, پەرلەمانی كوردستان ,Perlemanê Kurdistanê or simply Perleman, ar, برلمان كردستان, links=https://www.parliament.krd/arabic/), also called the Kurdish Parliament (IKP), is the parl ...

in September 2018. On 18 February 2019, Fareed was nominated by the

Kurdistan Democratic Party The Kurdistan Democratic Party ( ku, Partiya Demokrat a Kurdistanê; پارتی دیموکراتی کوردستان), usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK, is the largest party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional Gov ...

(KDP), and received 68 votes. The session was boycotted by politicians from the

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK; ku, یەکێتیی نیشتمانیی کوردستان, translit=Yekîtiya Nîştimanî ya Kurdistanê) is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK describe ...

(PUK), and Fareed was appointed as interim speaker until the PUK and KDP are able to reach agreement on a permanent appointment. 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. A draft agreement reached on February 5 requires a PUK representative to hold the post of parliamentary speaker. 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. In 2019, Fareed was appointed as Regional Minister of State in the KRG Cabinet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fareed, Vala Living people 1975 births Speakers of the Kurdistan Region Parliament 21st-century Iraqi women politicians Kurdistan Democratic Party politicians 21st-century Iraqi politicians Iraqi Kurdistani politicians