|
Nawshirwan Mustafa: Iraqi Kurdistan
parliament is “paralyzed” institution
14.2.2011
|
|
|
|
February 14, 2011
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', —
Nawshirwan Mustafa, the president of the major
opposition party in the Kurdistan Region, Gorran
(Change) Movement, described the current Kurdish
parliament a “paralyzed” body, reiterating the call
for its replacement, along with government
resignation. In response, a Kurdish lawmaker accused
Mustafa of “political libel”.
In an interview in a program, dubbed Rubaru (Face to
Face) produced and aired by Gorran mouthpiece,
Kurdistan News Network (KNN) TV channel, Mustafa
pointed the blame finger at the current Kurdish
parliament, describing it as “hollow paralyzed”
institution.
Meanwhile the opposition leader called on the
Kurdistan public to “follow the examples of the
recent Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings”, and stage
their own.
The public revolts in Tunisia and Egypt succeeded in
ousting the autocratic presidents of the country. In
a statement announced Jan.29, the party called for
re-staging the legislative body voting and the
resignation of Kurdistan regional
government KRG.
|
Nawshirwan Mustafa, head of the Gorran,
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region of Iraq. March, 28,
2010 Photo: AP |
The
call was countered by a swift campaign of protest
statement issuance and demonstrations, mainly by the
supporters of the major parties.
Gorran demands an active parliament to monitor the
government and officials’ conduct, not a “paralyzed
one submissive to all the illegal imports of the
government,” Mustafa told the channel.
The leader advised the two major Kurdish parties in
Kurdistan “to take lesson” from the recent Arab
world uprisings and “comprehend that the era for
monopolizing power is over.”
Gorran has several times accused the majority entity
in parliament, the Kurdistani bloc, of
“unconditional obedience to the wishes of the major
parties the entity represents.”
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by
Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), led by the Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani are the two domineering
parties in Kurdistan. The two are allied under
Kurdistani bloc,www.ekurd.netwith
59 seats out of 111. The opposition contains Gorran
with 25 seats along with 10 more from two Islamic
parties. This is the first time the Kurdish
parliament enjoys an opposition force.
In response to Mustafa’s depiction of the Kurdish
legislative body, Salar Mahmoud, from the Kurdistani
refuted the image.
“In-depth discussions, the meetings of the
committees, the attendance of the lawmakers in the
sessions and summoning the ministers to parliament
all bear out the active conduct of parliament,
Mahmoud believed.
The lawmaker who is also the chairman for the human
rights committee told AK news “Kurdistan public, the
political observers as well as the legal experts all
testify the active role the current parliament
plays.”
Mahmoud accused Mustafa of “political libel” for
labeling parliament as a hollow and paralyzed
institution, stressing “parliament is the supreme
authority of legislation and policy in Kurdistan,
combining the diverse cultures and voices through a
democratic process.”
The Kurdish officials defend their ground saying the
parliament was elected through a public voting July
25, 2009, dismissing any sort of resemblance between
the Tunisian and Egyptian authorities and the
Kurdish one, promoted to power “democratically”.
Gorran enjoys wide support in Kurdistan region.
It was emerged in regional elections in 2009 as a
rival to the two main ruling Kurdish parties and won
25 seats in the parliament.
Gorran is challenging
Talabani's PUK and
the KDP of regional
president Massoud Barzani and accuses the parties of
corruption. It’s headed by the former senior PUK-leader
Nawshirwan Mustafa, who was Talabani’s deputy until
2007. Since the July 2009 elections in which it
secured almost a third of the seats of 111-member
Parliament of Kurdistan.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, aknews.com
| ekurd.net
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
®
