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Election fever rises in Iraqi Kurdistan
18.6.2009
By Rebaz Mahmoud in Sulaimaniyah, IWPR (ICR No. 293) |
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Competition stiff for parliamentary seats in what
many believe will be a hotly-contested campaign.
June
18, 2009
SULAIMANIYAH, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', —
Election fever has hit the Kurdish city of
Sulaimaniyah ahead of a highly anticipated poll that
could change the landscape of Kurdish politics.
A record 24 parties and coalitions will compete for
parliamentary seats in the Kurdistan Regional
Government’s July 25 elections, which will also
elect the KRG’s president. Five candidates are
running for the regional presidency.
Analysts and politicians are anticipating a
hard-fought parliamentary campaign, especially in
Sulaimaniyah - the largest of Kurdistan's three
provinces - where an independent contender is
challenging the supremacy of the two leading Kurdish
parties. |
Illustration photo |
The Kurdistan Democratic
Party, KDP, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan,
PUK, which have dominated Kurdish politics for the
past three decades, are viewed by many as heroic
defenders of minority Kurds and the north’s most
experienced leaders. Others claim that the parties
have failed citizens, who complain of widespread
corruption, poor services and nepotism among party
loyalists.
Campaigning has yet to begin officially in Iraqi
Kurdistan, but in the streets, teahouses and private
homes of Sulaimaniyah, people talk excitedly about
the forthcoming polls. Party media feed the
excitement by advocating their candidates and
slamming their opponents.
The KDP and PUK led an alliance that won 104 of the
111 parliamentary seats in the KRG’s 2005
parliamentary elections. Thirteen parties and
coalitions contested the election that year, with
only three gaining seats.
The political scene in Kurdistan is vastly different
today, said Aram Jamal, manager of the
Sulaimaniyah-based Kurdish Institute for Elections.
“Because there are separate and independent lists,
there is competition,” he said. “The public seems
excited.”
Tahir Mohammed Amin, head of the elections
commission’s Sulaimaniyah office, said a high
turnout is expected.
“There seems to be a great response from voters who
are eager to register,” he said.
Sulaimaniyah is a PUK stronghold, with the region’s
personality-dominated politics clearly on display.
Pictures of PUK leader and Iraqi president Jalal
Talabani and KRG president Massoud Barzani, who is
widely favoured to win re-election, are plastered in
shops and on buildings. Barzani is president of the
KDP.
Photos of rival candidate Nawshirwan Mustafa
– a former PUK leader who now owns a powerful media
company, Wisha – are also prominently on display.
Mustafa, whose campaign centres on a single theme –
change – is considered the primary challenger to the
PUK- and KDP-led Kurdistani List. Mustafa led a
failed push for reform within the PUK and created
his slate after losing a power struggle for the
party leadership with Talabani.
Talabani provided the seed money for Wisha, which
was established in 2006. The company, which includes
a television station, newspaper and website, is now
independent and highly critical of local leaders.
Slates are only permitted to campaign in a set
period of time, the dates for which have yet to be
announced. But politicians are getting their
messages across by reaching out to the public
unofficially, including through party media outlets
which are backing their candidates and reporting
critically on their opponents.
Underdog candidates appear to be emboldened by the
competition. Prior to Mustafa’s list, the leading
opposition party was the Kurdistan Islamic Union, a
moderate Islamic party that has been unable to win
over secular voters.
The union has joined forces with another moderate
Islamic party and two secular parties to form an
alliance that is advocating a reform-based platform.
“The level of political awareness among the public
is high,” Salahaddin Babakir, campaign chief for the
Kurdistan Islamic Union, said. “People are expecting
change and for things to improve.”
The incumbent Kurdistani List has yet to announce
its platform but is highlighting the successes of
its leaders and the government in its media. One
story featured newly-paved roads and a hospital in
Halabja,www.ekurd.net
a Kurdish town in
Sulaimaniyah devastated by a chemical attack by
Saddam Hussein’s regime in 1988. Critics of the
ruling parties frequently cite Halabja as an example
of the Kurdish government’s neglect of its citizens.
PUK media outlets also report on party meetings
where officials promise better services and
democratic reforms. The gatherings are attracting an
increasing number of supporters, including Kurdish
peshmarga forces and prominent figures such as
tribal leaders and artists.
Party banners, erected for the PUK’s 34th
anniversary on June 1 and still hanging on party
buildings, play on themes that have resonated with
voters in the past, such as the PUK’s armed struggle
for the Kurds and its pledge to protect Kurds from
threats.
Mustafa’s list has “made the competition tougher and
tougher”, said Aziz Shawkat, a PUK official. “We
want the public to vote for us again because of our
history of struggle and because we have achieved
what we have now. We should prove to Nawshirwan that
the public wants us.”
Mustafa’s supporters and media, meanwhile, are
pressing for change by highlighting what they claim
are the government’s shortcomings – most notably
poor services and corruption.
The reform messages strike a chord with discontented
voters. Along with PUK defectors, young people are
considered a key voting bloc for Mustafa’s list.
Singers have produced pop songs encouraging voters
to support Mustafa, depicting him as a hero and the
sole hope for bringing about reforms. Pro-Mustafa
graffiti is quietly sprayed on buildings in the
middle of the night.
Mohammed Nuri Tofiq, a Wisha board member, said
Mustafa’s slate will attract youth “who are inspired
by change and want to work for it”.
Despite Mustafa’s passionate following, analysts
predicted that his list would win less than 20 per
cent of the parliamentary seats. Barzan Ahmad Kurda,
a senior PUK official, predicted he would gain only
five seats.
And the political drama that stemmed from the PUK’s
infighting has not abated.
Mustafa’s media company frequently reports on party
members who have been expelled from the PUK for
supporting his breakaway faction.
Wisha manager Shwan Qliyasani told IWPR that 30,000
PUK members in Sulaimaniyah city have been dismissed
for backing Mustafa,www.ekurd.net
a figure Kurda dismissed
as “inconceivable”. Mustafa supporters claim that
some of his loyalists are at risk of losing their
government jobs.
Kurda said that up to 200 party officials had been
expelled but some had returned to the party.
“If we are a football team, one of our players must
not score against us. Those who were expelled were
working against PUK statutes” by supporting another
list, Kurda said.
Critics also balked when Talabani called on
thousands of party members to back Barzani at a PUK
rally recently, claiming the speech was tantamount
to campaigning and violated election rules.
Kurda said because Talabani was addressing party
loyalists and not the public, he was not in breach
of election policies.
Amin from the elections commission said the body is
investigating claims of campaign violations. “I can
say that the law has been broken and election
campaigns were launched before they were allowed,”
Amin said.
He declined to provide details because the
investigation is ongoing.
Rebaz Mahmoud is an IWPR-trained journalist in
Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan region.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
iwpr.net
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