Citizens of the region of Iraqi-Kurdistan voted for a new Parliament on Saturday, with potential pushes for further autonomy from the central government looking imminent, reports Reuters.
The regional government in Erbil, the capital of the oil-rich region, has been clashing with Baghdad over control of crude reserves, angering the central government by negotiating their own oil deals.
The elections coincide with the near completion of a pipeline connecting Kurdistan to Turkey, a project with the potential to make the Kurdish government self-sufficient enough to seek further concessions from Baghdad.