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U.S. fears violence ahead of Iraq's
Kurdistan regional elections
6.5.2009
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May 6, 2009
Erbil-Hewler, Iraqi Kurdistan region,
— Iraq's semi-autonomous northern
region of Kurdistan will hold parliamentary
elections on
July 25 , officials said Tuesday.
Tensions between the Kurdish regional government
(KRG) and Iraq's central government in Baghdad have
been rising, and U.S. officials have said they fear
the disputes could escalate into armed conflict.
None of Iraq's three mostly Kurdish provinces held
elections in January, when the rest of Iraq chose
new provincial councils, and the July elections
could help further the Kurds' efforts to control
their northern territory and the revenues from
Iraq's northern oil fields.
Roughly 2.5 million people are eligible to vote in
the elections, though registration is ongoing, said
Musab al Mudaras , a spokesman for Iraq's
Independent High Electoral Commission .
Voters won't vote for individual candidates, Mudaras
said. Instead, they'll choose from the 42 political
parties that have registered to run. Winning parties
will decide whom to name to the regional
parliament's 111 seats after the election results
are announced.
For decades, two parties have dominated Kurdistan's
politics: the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP),www.ekurd.net
led by Kurdistan President
Massoud Barzani , and the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK), headed by Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani .
Recently, some Kurds have begun demanding a shift
from the two-party system, and many expect new
challengers to take seats this year.
"We're afraid this election will witness violence
and clashes between those competing for power," said
Sardashat Aziz, a 24-year-old schoolteacher from the
Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah. "The electoral map is
different this time . . . (The KDP and the PUK)
aren't ready to give up their authority."
Local and international observers will be invited to
ensure that the balloting is carried out fairly and
without fraud, Mudaras said.
Nawshirwan Mustafa, a former deputy leader
and co-founder of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's
party,www.ekurd.net
the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan, says he plans to head a political group
of independents called
"Change" in the region's
upcoming parliamentary elections.
Regional parliament members serve four-year terms
and are slated to choose a new Kurdish president
soon after they take office.
The last time elections to Kurdistan's parliament
were held in 2005 the two main parties -- the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani and the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) led by Kurdistan president
Massoud Barzani -- formed a joint list that won 80
of the 111 seats.
The Kurdish parliamentary elections were initially
scheduled for this month but were delayed after
officials said they needed more time to prepare.
Kurdistan has remained fairly peaceful for the past
six years, though separatist rebels in the region's
northern mountains routinely fight with Turkey and
Iran . In recent days, Iran has launched air strikes
into northern Kurdish villages where rebels from the
Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party live and train.
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