The revenue sharing question still causes bitterness, and PUK officials still complain that the KDP is cheating them. Barzani retorts that large sums of money were delivered to the PUK last fall. Soon after, he says, Talabani declared himself president of Kurdistan in an interview with foreign journalists, and began setting up a separate legal system in the PUK area. There is a festive mood in PUK-controlled Sulaymaniyya. University students mill about the campus studying for exams.
Shoppers fill the main boulevards.
A water park, complete with toy motor boats, refreshment stands and a well-kept zoo, is packed with people. Sulaymaniyya shows many signs of the pluralism which the Kurds say they represent. Serious political actors, such as the Communist party and the Islamic party which currently controls the town of Halabja, criticize the PUK openly. NGO observers were impressed by the turnout and transparency of municipal elections held in February, though the PUK won heavily as predicted. Talabani realizes the credibility these elections gained him.