IRAQI Kurdish President Masoud Barzani resigned yesterday in the wake of his disastrous bid for regional independence.

In a letter to the regional parliament, read out in a special closed session, the Kurdistan Democratic Party leader said: “I refuse to continue the position of president of the region after November 1.”

Mr Barzani advised parliament to reassign his duties and powers to prevent a “legal vacuum.”

But he said he would remain the leader of the High Political Council.

His nephew Nechirvan Barzani remains as regional prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The regional parliament had to be adjourned for an hour after uproar from Gorran Movement MPs over a Bill proposing to distribute presidential duties between the government, parliament and judiciary, the Rudaw news agency reported.

The Gorran position was for the parliamentary speaker to assume all presidential powers.

The Gorran Movement was among those pressing Mr Barzani to resign last week.

Mr Barzani has become increasingly isolated since the holding of an independence referendum in the KRG and areas under its control in Kirkuk.

On Friday the US-led coalition brokered a ceasefire between the Peshmerga and government forces who had been driving them from those regions.

The referendum was seen as an attempt to shore up the power of Mr Barzani, who suspended the KRG’s parliament and clung to his position when his term as president expired in 2015.