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SALAHEDDIN, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq 's two main
Kurdish political parties will run for the country's
landmark general elections in January on the same
list, the leader of one of the groups revealed.
"The Kurdish political powers have reached an agreement to present a joint
list for the general elections as well as for the
Kurdish parliament," said Massud Barzani, who heads
the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
He was speaking from his Salaheddin stronghold in
northern Iraq after meeting with Jalal Talabani,
whose Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is the Kurdish
community's other major party.
"We call on the people of Kurdistan to participate
in the elections as we need every single vote to
obtain as many seats as possible in the Iraqi
national assembly," said Talabani at a joint press
conference.
"The current situation obliges us to put the future
of Kurdistan before our own individual interests and
join the same list to guarantee the rights of the
Kurdish people in Iraq," Barzani added.
On January 30, Iraqis are due to choose the 275
members of the national assembly. The Kurds will
also pick the 111 members of their autonomous
parliament.
Talabani urged "the people of Kurdistan to take part
in the ballot, because we need every vote we can get
in order to obtain the largest possible number of
seats in parliament."
The January 30 elections -- Iraq's first free and
multi-party elections in half a century -- will be a
single, proportional ballot. The resulting interim
national assembly will be tasked with drafting a
permanent constitution.
When asked why the two Kurdish political
heavyweights had not joined forces with some Arab
parties, Talabani hinted that none of them were
ready to boost Kurdish aspirations towards more
autonomy.
"We were not able to find an agreement on the place
of the Kurds. There are a few Assyrians and some
Turkmen on our list but not the Turkmen Front," he
explained.
Kurds, who were oppressed by Saddam Hussein's
regime, represent some 20 percent of Iraq's
population and are determined to safeguard their
rights in the next constitution.
Kurdistan has been spared a lot of the violence that
followed the US invasion of Iraq, which the Kurds
staunchly supported. Its leaders have since exerted
simultaneous efforts to grab key positions in the
central government while backing every move towards
increasing their autonomy.
Barzani said the joint list, expected to be one of
the leading blocs in the next interim parliament,
would also include the Kurdistan Islamic Movement,
but not the other two major Kurdish Islamic parties.
A total of 18 Kurdish electoral lists have been
approved by the Iraqi electoral commission.
Relations between the two major groups that control
the three Kurdish province of Iraq have sometimes
been frosty.
The KDP and PUK clashed for several months in 1994
and each one has its own government.
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