|
Iraq's Kurdish rivals renew coalition for
election
28.10.2005
|
|
|
|
ARBIL, Kurdistan
(Iraq), Oct 28 (Reuters) - Iraq's two main Kurdish
parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), will contest
elections in December on a single list, a Kurdish
official said on Friday.
"The KDP and PUK have decided to renew their
agreement to continue the Kurdish Alliance for the
next election," the speaker of the Kurdish regional
parliament in Arbil, Adnan al-Mufti, told Reuters.
Sources in the Electoral Commission said the Kurdish
alliance had registered its list on Friday.
Iraq's Kurds acquired de facto autonomy for their
mountainous northern region from Saddam Hussein's
rule in Baghdad thanks to U.S. air cover following
the 1991 Gulf War.
But rivalry between the KDP and PUK flared into war
in the mid-1990s until a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in
1997.
Kurdish leaders, notably Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani of the PUK and KDP leader Masoud Barzani
have agreed not to push for a complete independence
in return for U.S. assurances of a fair deal from
majority Arabs.
The Kurdish allies joined the dominant Shi'ite-led
alliance in a coalition government following an
election to an interim parliament in January.
Reuters
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 