After the September 2017 Independence Referendum, the two
main Kurdish ruling parties found themselves in a quandary. President Masoud
Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was humiliated by the fiasco
that followed the election where the Kurds gave up not only Kirkuk but almost
all the disputed areas they had sought to annex following the fall of Saddam
Hussein. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on the other hand was not only accused
of selling out to Baghdad by ordering its Peshmerga to fall back in the face of
the federal forces, but was deeply divided internally between two main
factions. Faced with these issues the two parties decided to delay elections so
that they could stay in power.
The Kurdistan Election Commission recently announced that
the November 1 presidential and parliamentary elections in Kurdistan were called
off. On October 18,
the Election Commission said it stopped preparations for the vote because no
candidates were registered. It said it was waiting for the Kurdish parliament
to decide on what would happen next. October
24, the legislature let it be known that there would be an eight-month
delay. The Change Party disputed
that. Its candidate, Mohammed Tofiq Rahim went to the Election Commission
office on October 3, the deadline to register, but the Commission said he was
too late. No other candidates signed up for the
presidential race.
The opposition parties were furious with this decision.
Change called it
a “coup”. It and the Kurdistan Islamic Group had been worried about this
happening, and had been calling
for the government and President Barzani to step down for a national salvation government.
Barham Salah, formerly of the PUK, who has created his own party now the
Coalition for Democracy and Justice, had been making similar statements. These
groups have no power however since the Kurdistan parliament and the Change
ministers were dismissed
in October 2015 by President Barzani when they opposed him staying in office
after his term expired in August 2015.
The KDP and PUK fell on different sides of the fence after
the Kurdish referendum. Many in the PUK were openly opposed to the vote
thinking it was ill planned and only a mechanism for Barzani to stay in power,
while others fully supported the vote. The KDP on the other hand basked in the limelight
of the election until Baghdad began imposing all kinds of sanctions upon the
Kurdistan region, and eventually demanded authority over all the disputed areas
in northern Iraq. The two began accusing
each other of betrayal in the aftermath. Despite this huge chasm, the two came
to an important agreement, that they would stay in power by calling off the
November elections. The two parties have ruled Kurdistan since the 1990s, and
are now devolving to that former situation where each ran their own fiefs. The
ruling elites are too busy attempting to deal with the referendum aftermath,
dealing with their internal divisions, and attempting to consolidate power over
their regions that they do not want to be bothered by elections. Kurdistan has
always been more about family and tribal politics rather than institutions and
democracy, and this is just the latest example of that.
SOURCES
Bas News, “Barzani Calls for Kurdistan’s Elections to Be Held on Time:
Senior Assistant,” 10/14/17
eKurd, “Kurdistan electoral commission reject Gorran presidential
candidate,” 10/7/17
- “Opposition calls on Kurdistan’s ‘illegitimate’ president Barzani to
step down,” 10/23/17
Iraq News Network, “Change demands Barzani to step down and dismiss the
government,” 10/21/17
Al Mirbad, “Calls for the formation of a national salvation government in
Kurdistan under the supervision of the United Nations,” 10/19/17
NRT, “Gorran, KIG Express Worries Of Attempts To Delay General
Elections,” 10/12/17
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, “Iraqi Kurdistan Elections Delayed By
Eight Months,” 10/24/17
Rudaw, “Barham Salih’s party calls for transitional Kurdistan
government,” 10/19/17
- “Commission halts preparations for November 1 elections,” 10/18/17
- “Gorran calls parliament extension a ‘coup,’” 10/24/17
- “Presidential elections in limbo with no confirmed candidates,” 10/3/17
No comments:
Post a Comment