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SALAHUDDIN, Iraq, Feb. 13 - Kurdish leaders said
that uncertified election results released today
show that the Kurds, harshly persecuted under Saddam
Hussein, have as much right as Arabs to wield power
in the new Iraq and that tough bargaining for such
power will now begin in earnest.
The results indicate that the Kurds will be the most
sought-after ally by various political groups as the
groups jockey to form a new government.
The Kurdistan Alliance, the main Kurdish slate of
candidates, got nearly 26 percent of the vote, or 75
seats in the 275-member national assembly, putting
it firmly in second place. Kurds make up at least a
fifth of the Iraqi population and, having been the
targets of mass killings by Mr. Hussein, are
considered the closest allies to the Americans in
Iraq.
"This would show that the Kurds are an effective
force in Iraq, and that Kurds are no longer
second-class citizens in Iraq, and that Kurds have
the right to participate in all posts and positions
in Iraq," Massoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan
Democratic Party, one of the two major Kurdish
parties, said in an interview here in his mountain
redoubt.
The strong second-place showing by the Kurds will
give them the leverage to demand that a senior Kurd,
Jalal Talabani, be installed as president of Iraq,
Mr. Barzani said. The Kurds will also insist on
taking top cabinet posts, keeping broad autonomous
powers to govern their northern region and
administrating the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk,
where large numbers of Kurds were displaced by Arab
settlers under Mr. Hussein's policies.
"It's our right," Mr. Barzani said of the Kurds'
push for the presidency. "If you look at it
democratically, how the list has done, it's number
two in performance."
Mr. Barzani gave his assessment to two reporters
within an hour of the announcement of the results,
as his aides were still analyzing the numbers in
their offices high above the wind-swept Kurdish
plains. Thick clouds were moving in, threatening to
cloak the mountain in another layer of fresh snow.
A two-thirds vote by the national assembly, which is
charged with writing a permanent constitution, is
needed to install the president and two vice
presidents, who will then choose the prime minister
and cabinet. The winner of the elections was a huge
list of Shiite candidates assembled by Grand
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite
cleric in Iraq. But that list, the United Iraqi
Alliance, got only 48 percent of the vote, so the
Shiites will need partners to form a coalition
government.
Provided the Shiite list stays intact, the most
obvious partner is the Kurdistan Alliance.
Alternately, other groups, such as the slate headed
by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which got nearly 14
percent of the vote, could try to woo the Kurds into
a coalition that would have enough power to block
the Shiites.
In the last week, two prominent politicians, Dr.
Allawi and Adnan Pachaci, a secular Sunni Arab who
served as foreign minister in the late 1960's, have
visited Mr. Barzani here in Salahuddin. The two came
on separate occasions to discuss the formation of a
new government, Mr. Barzani said, adding that he
expects more visitors in the days ahead.
"Whoever comes, they're welcome," he said.
The Kurds have also created an "operations room" in
Baghdad that is arranging meetings with different
political parties, Mr. Barzani said. Four senior
Kurdish politicians - including Barham Salih, the
deputy prime minister of Iraq, and Rozh Shawees, one
of two vice presidents - have been appointed to
negotiate on behalf of the Kurds, he added.
Nawzad Hadi Mawlood, the governor of Erbil province
and a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party, said the Kurds "want an important place in
the government."
"We want a Kurd as president or prime minister," he
said. "This is our country."
The Kurdish leaders did say, though, that they
thought as many as 300,000 Kurds may have been
cheated of their right to vote because of election
irregularities in the north. Kurds and Christians
have been particularly vocal in complaining of a
shortage of polling stations and voter ballots on
Jan. 30 in some parts of the north.
Mr. Barzani said Kurdish officials will take a
closer look at the election results and then decide
whether to push their complaints with the Iraqi
electoral commission. Electoral officials have said
they will allow a challenge period in the next three
days before declaring the election results official.
"Indeed a lot of manipulation has taken place," Mr.
Barzani said. "On this issue of the challenge, we
will consult among ourselves."
The two main Kurdish parties decided to run on the
same slate in the national elections and to also
cooperate in elections for the 105-seat Kurdistan
Assembly, a regional parliament. In provincial
elections, though, they competed against each other.
Mr. Mawlood, the governor of Erbil, said the votes
for provincial elections in Erbil might have been
miscounted, and that the tally for his party might
have fallen short of the true number by as many as
30,000.
In recent days, the electoral commission has been
investigating possible vote fraud in Erbil.
But many Kurds in the city of Erbil appeared pleased
with the overall election results.
"Now we can deal with the Arabs in Iraq," Mahmoud
Abdul-Wahid, a retired schoolteacher, said as he
sipped tea in a café by the old citadel. "We don't
have problems with that."
Warzer Jaff contributed reporting from Erbil for
this article.
http://www.nytimes.com
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