PUK ‘won’t recognise’ Kurdistan vote results

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the dominant Kurdish parties in northern Iraq, said it would not recognise the results of yesterday’s parliamentary election in the region. The PUK is competing with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the poll, one year after the Kurds’ failed bid for independence from the rest of Iraq.

Voting began yesterday across Iraq’s Kurdistan for a new parliament. More than 3.1 million voters are eligible to cast ballots across three provinces in the northern region where 673 candidates from 29 political movements are vying for seats in the 111-member parliament.

Eleven of the seats are however reserved for religious and ethnic minorities: five to Turkmen candidates, five to Christians and one to the Armenian community. The Independent High Elections and Referendum Commission said that at mid-day turnout ranged between 1623 per cent in a breakdown of provinces. A massive yes vote in the September 2017 referendum for independence, deemed illegal by the Baghdad federal government, backfired on the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq.

Economic penalties

Baghdad imposed economic penalties and sent federal troops to push Kurdish forces out of oil fields vital for the region’s economy, depriving it of a key lifeline.

Regional president Masoud Barzani, who was the driving force behind the plebiscite, stepped down in November. Yesterday’s election sees the parties that have long held sway set to come out on top yet again.

The outgoing parliament is dominated by Barzani’s KDP — as is the government — and currently holds 38 seats in the assembly, while its traditional rival, the PUK, has 18. The main opposition Goran party has 24 seats in the outgoing parliament.