With opposition parties weak, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) are likely to extend their almost three decades of sharing power.

But splits within the PUK present the possibility that Massoud Barzani's KDP will take a dominant position in Kurdish politics, both in the regional capital Erbil and in the difficult formation of a federal government in Baghdad.

The contentious referendum on independence in 2017, led by Barzani, promised to set Iraq's Kurds on a path to a homeland.

Instead, a swift backlash from Baghdad dashed those prospects and diminished the region's autonomy.

But Barzani - still the KDP's leader and main vote-getter - also added that "even 1,000 years of war won't solve the problem."

Even though relations with Baghdad have improved, the Kurdish region has lost territory and economic autonomy, and voter frustration is rising.