ERBIL, Iraq 

The leader of the opposition New Generation Movement (NGM) said Thursday that his party will not participate in the government after it placed third in the parliamentary elections in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)-held region of northern Iraq.

Shaswar Abdulwahid said that the NGM would not join the government to secure a ministerial position.

"Our goal is to change power. For us, the head of the government should be neither from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) nor the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). For us, the KDP and PUK are two halves of the same apple," he said at a news conference.

Abdulwahid noted that NGM would demonstrate "real opposition" in the parliament during the next four years.

Initial official results from the parliamentary elections show KDP and PUK maintaining their seats, with NGM making a big leap.

They indicate the KDP finishing first and the PUK second, followed by its Sulaymaniyah-based rival, the NGM.

The NGM made a big leap, reaching 15 seats after it won eight in the previous election.