KDP sweeps to power in Iraqi Kurdistan elections
The Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iraq won the region’s parliamentary elections yesterday in a poll marred by fraud claims that clouded the outcome of the vote.
Iraqi Kurds voted last month in a ballot that could disrupt the country’s fragile powersharing system but the results were delayed because the electoral commission received and is investigating more than 1,000 complaints of electoral offences.
The commission said yesterday the KDP won 45 seats after gaining about 700,000 votes, falling 12 seats short of an outright majority in the 111-seat body.
Its rival and junior coalition partner in government, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, came second with 21 seats. The region’s largest opposition party, Gorran, or Movement for Change, came in third. It accused the PUK and KDP of electoral fraud.
“The results shows the KDP has come first by a big margin with 60 per cent ahead of the PUK, despite all the concerns we had on the handling of the vote in some areas, especially after about 120,000 votes were cancelled because of complaints and violations,” KDP official, Janghis Awakaly, told The National.
The number of Kurdish voters has shrunk in recent elections as the region’s stagnant politics, unpaid public sector salaries and corruption have undermined the population’s faith in politics.
Despite the announcement of the results, the Kurdish judiciary commission will need to formally accept the results, Mr Awakaly said.
“Subsequently, parliament will have its first session and we as KDP will start negotiations to form a new Cabinet,” he said.
Iraq’s Kurdistan region is divided into areas controlled by the two ruling parties. Yet parliament has been largely paralysed since 2015 after a dispute over Masoud Barzani, who was president at the time, seeking an extension of his term, while both parties embraced a failed referendum on independence last year.
The KDP and PUK fought a civil war in the 1990s but have more recently taken to sharing power. Both have emerged from a gruelling political battle in Baghdad, where they competed for the presidency of federal Iraq. The PUK came out on top with the election of Barham Salih.
“I believe the next Cabinet will be different from the current and previous one.
“I am sure that the KDP will ask the PUK to be part of the next government but their participation might not be as before,” Mr Awakaly said.
The Kurdistan Islamic Union said yesterday that it rejected the results and threatened to take legal action.
“After waiting for three weeks for the announcement of the results, because of violations and electoral fraud by the ruling parties, the election and referendum commission failed to obtain the trust of all members of the commissioners’ council,” the KIU said.
“The results were announced with a majority of votes in an incomplete way at midnight.”
Elsewhere in Baghdad, Prime Minister-designate Adel Abdul Mahdi is expected to present his new Cabinet to parliament today, according to Iraqi officials.
“Adel Abdul Mahdi, will submit his government of 22 ministerial portfolios distributed by nine ministries of the agenda of reform and reconstruction,” an Iraqi official said.
The premier designate might postpone the announcement of four or five portfolios to a later date because of internal sectarian differences, the official told The National.
Mr Abdul Mahdi has until early next month to submit his Cabinet and bring together the political factions. If he fails, another candidate will be chosen for the country’s top post.
“The prime minister-designate is carrying out the necessary communications with the head of parliament and the blocs to set a day” to present the Cabinet, his office said last Thursday.
Baghdad’s new Cabinet is expected to address widespread civic unrest and ease stand-offs across the country that have brought months of deadlock since elections in May.
The premier is seen as an independent who brings years of experience to the top post.
I am sure the KDP will ask the PUK to be part of the next government but their participation might not be as before JANGHIS AWAKALY KDP official