After the first Iraqi Kurdish Parliament was elected in 1992, the two parties that came out with majorities – the KDP and the PUK – formed a power sharing government that was supposed to split all senior positions and powers equally between them, staring from the job of prime minister right down to deputy department directors.
However conflict between the two parties, who basically split voters and terrain between them, with the KDP holding power and popularity in Erbil and Dohuk and the PUK doing the same in the Sulaymaniyah area, turned violent in 1994 and led to a civil war of sorts between the two parties. This lasted until 1998 but its impact lingers.
The region continued to be split, with the two parties administrating their respective areas, until in 2005 a national unity government was formed. Other parties from inside Iraqi Kurdistan took part in this administration, including local parties with an Islamic bent like the Kurdistan Islamic Union.
Because other parties than the KDP and PUK were involved, this government could be defined as coming close to a more broad-based one. However the smaller parties didn't really get a lot of say in important decisions. And eventually the many stalemates this government ran up against led to the formation of a Kurdish political opposition.
When the two major political parties, the KDP and the PUK, formed the next government in 2009 they found the Islamic parties in Iraqi Kurdistan had decided to become a more active opposition, rather than playing a powerless role. They were joined by the Change movement, a new political party that formed when leading members broke away from the PUK and began campaigning on an anti-corruption platform.
Tensions between the two ruling parties and the new opposition caused many problems in Iraqi Kurdistan over the ensuing four years, including a number of major demonstrations during which protesters demanded political reform.
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