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Kurdish
voters are preparing to turn out en masse to cast
their ballot for Iraq’s transitional National
Assembly, but the election for the Kurdish regional
assembly is leaving many cold.
Muhammed Qadir, an auto electrician and father of
two sons who died in Kurdish uprisings against
Saddam Hussein’s regime, was typical of the Kurds
interviewed by IWPR. Like many, he will take part in
the national election, but abstain from voting for
the Kurdish parliament and provincial councils.
People in the semi-autonomous region known as Iraqi
Kurdistan are eligible to vote for its assembly as
well as for the individual governing councils of
Dahuk, Arbil and Sulaimaniyah, the three
governorates that make up the region. Similar
governorate-level elections are scheduled in all 18
Iraqi provinces.
In the national vote, the two dominant Kurdish
parties - the Kurdish Democratic Party, KDP, and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK, - have come
together to form the Kurdish Unity List coalition.
But in the local elections, each will campaign
separately.
When it comes to the regional polls, Muhammed Qadir
said, "It's impossible for me to vote for these
parties. What have they done, and for whom?"
Speaking to IWPR as he was getting his father’s name
corrected on the voter registration lists, Farman
Farhan said that although he'd be voting in the
national poll, he too is unenthusiastic about
Kurdish politicians.
“Who's got any faith left in these parties, to vote
for them?” he asked.
Gulala Ali was in the minority of those interviewed,
expressing a desire to participate in all three
polls – the national, regional and governorate
ballots. “They are all important for me,” he said.
Most Kurds are tired of the partisan politics and
occasionally bloody conflicts between the KDP and
the PUK which have divided their region for decades.
They see the National Assembly as a new chance to
gain a voice at national level, particularly in the
drafting of a new constitution, the Iraqi assembly's
primary task.
Some Kurdish groups see the constitutional process
as a way of pushing for a federalised Iraq – with
bigger regions rather than the current 18
governorates as the primary administrative unit – in
which they could bolster their autonomy.
They also hope the election will help them regain
areas such as the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which
Saddam detached from the Kurdish region and
subjected to a policy of demographic change known as
"Arabisation". Kirkuk claimed by both Kurds and
Arabs, with the local Turkoman also asserting their
rights.
Fouad Hussain, of the Iraqi Communications and Media
Commission, says the Kurds believe the
national-level election is the best way for them to
assert themselves in the new Iraq. "The Kurds think
they can resolve two issues,”
said Hussain. “First, participation in power, and
secondly, guaranteeing the rights of Kurds in the
new Iraqi constitution."
Kurds were severely oppressed during the Saddam era
but gained de facto autonomous status after the 1991
uprising.vs
Hawrey Abdullah, a traffic police commissioner, said
his people have been exploited long enough, and it
is now time to win rights by voting in the National
Assembly election.
“The Kurds have been waiting a very long time for
the day when they can take part in the Iraqi
parliament,” Abdullah said. “A big percentage of us
have to vote or else we will be the losers.”
Tahir Rashid, a former peshmerga or Kurdish
guerrilla fighter, insists that decades of fighting
for rights pale in comparison with the upcoming
election, "Eighty years of struggle and bloodshed
are not as important as the day when we vote for the
Kurdish list in the Baghdad parliament."
This story has not been bylined because of concerns
for the security of IWPR reporters .
http://www.iwpr.net
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