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A major sticking point to be resolved in debates over elections to Iraq's Kurdistan Parliament is whether to reform a system that sets aside 11 seats for ethnic and religious minorities in the 111-seat chamber. Five seats are reserved for Christians, five for Turkmens and one for an Armenian representative.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) ended its boycott of cabinet meetings in early May, as it bowed to international pressure to seek compromise with its main rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). However, hopes have since withered that it might spark a more deep-seated process of co-operation on key issues, amid disputes over regional elections and the federal budget in Iraq.

Oman's Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al-Said was unusually active in late May, making trips to Cairo and Tehran in quick succession, just as Egypt and Iran were edging towards a diplomatic rapprochement. Recent reports also suggest Oman may once again be acting as a mediator between Washington and Tehran.

Ali Akbar Ahmadian was appointed Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) secretary in Iran, replacing Ali Shamkhani who had held the influential post since September 2013. Since his resignation as SNSC secretary, Shamkhani has been appointed a political adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Sharjah’s population has grown by 22% since 2015, rising from 1.4m to 1.8m over that time, according to preliminary results from the census carried out in 2022 and announced by the Department of Statistics and Community Development late May.

Qatar will hold elections for the Central Municipal Council (CMC) on 22 June. The first election for the council was held in March 1999 and polls have been held every four years since then.

A five-day meeting in Aden concluded with leaders from other factions joining the Southern Transitional Council (STC), prompting warnings from Houthi rebels and others about the growing risk of the secessionist movement gaining ground in Yemen.

There are clear signs of fatigue and apathy among both voters and candidates, as the Kuwaiti electorate and candidates gear up for yet another National Assembly (parliament) election on 6 June. It will be the third national poll in as many years.

The Bahraini government has rowed back on changes to its school curriculum involving Jews and Israel, after criticism from local preachers, Shura Council members and others. While heavily promoted by the government, Bahrain’s normalisation deal with Israel remains deeply controversial among the population. 

Bashar Al-Assad's regime in Syria has been readmitted to the Arab League after more than a bloody decade on the sidelines, after Saudi Arabia and the UAE orchestrated a vote in favour ahead of a 19 May summit in Jeddah. Regional opposition to Syria hasn't disappeared, but Qatar and Kuwait decided not to stand in the way of readmission, in a further indication of Riyadh's new-found desire to flex its diplomatic muscles whatever western allies might think.

Iran officially welcomed Syria’s return to the League of Arab States, but the eagerness with which Damascus is accepting the renewed Arab hospitality may be a cause for concern in Tehran, which has been one of the Assad regime’s few consistent supporters throughout the civil war.

MBC Group Holdings, a British Virgin Islands-registered company connected to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ibrahim family, has submitted a petition to a Cayman Islands court to wind up its partnership with a son of Saudi Arabia's late King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz. The move offers an insight into how lucrative deals were awarded in the later years of Abdullah’s reign and how those deals were treated when King Salman Bin Abdelaziz took over in 2015.

The Iranian parliament voted to impeach industry, mine and trade minister Reza Fatemi Amin late April, a few weeks after education minister Yousef Nouri had resigned.

Omani officials are working on reforms to the welfare system and drawing up measures to encourage more private sector activity, in plans that offer further evidence of Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al-Said’s efforts to move the economy away from state paternalism.

Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR) has appointed his son Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed as second deputy ruler of the emirate, while also naming existing deputy Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed as first deputy ruler.