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Provincial elections in Iraq’s Kurdistan
postponed for fourth time
13.6.2012
By Joel Wing —
Ekurd.net |
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A Kurdish resident casts his vote at a polling
station in Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Photo: UKS
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Read more by the Author
June 13, 2012
Iraq’s Election Commission recently announced
that provincial balloting in the Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG) would be delayed once more. This
was the fourth time that the authorities had put off
the voting. Legal problems were the given reason for
the latest postponement, but the real cause was the
political maneuverings of the Kurdish parties.
In June 2012, Kurdistan’s provincial elections were
put off one more time. They were originally
scheduled for September 27, 2012. 92 seats were up
for grabs, with 31 in Erbil, 32 in Sulaimaniyah, and
29 in Dohuk. On June 5, Iraq’s Election Commission
requested that the voting be delayed. The official
reason was that the Kurdish election law only
allowed Christians to elect Christian candidates.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) parliament
was supposed to come up with new voting legislation,
and then the balloting would be re-scheduled. The
three Kurdish opposition parties, the Change List,
the Kurdistan Islamic Union, and the Kurdistan
Islamic Group objected as they were expecting to
make gains against the two ruling parties, the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The KRG has not had
elections since 2005. This was at least the fourth
time that the voting had been canceled, which made
the legal issue just the latest excuse to not hold
them.
Kurdish authorities have come up with various
reasons not to have the balloting for the
governorates. Originally, the KRG was to have
elections in 2009 when the rest of the country was
due for them. (1) Instead, the Kurdish parliament
extended the mandate for all the governorate level
politicians. October 2010 was then set as the new
date, but the head of the Kurdish Election Board
later suggested that be pushed back, because
Kurdistan just had parliamentary elections in 2009,
and Iraq was having national voting as well in March
2010. (2) Next, September 2011 was the new time,www.ekurd.net
and $25 million was even allotted for its
administration in June. This occurred while there
were large protests going on in Sulaimaniyah, and
the government wanted to appease them. By July
however, the KRG claimed that a new election law had
to be passed, and things were put off again. In
December, September 2012 was announced as the newest
date. Once again, a new excuse was made when in May
the Election Commission stated that voting should be
put off, because new commissioners had to be
appointed by parliament. The various excuses made in
the last three years showed that the KRG was not
serious about having provincial elections. One
reason after another was propagated until now when
there isn’t even a new date set for them to occur.
The real reason why the governorate elections are
not happening is the two ruling Kurdish parties do
not want them to. First, the balance between the two
lists has dramatically changed in recent years. In
2009, Kurdistan held voting for its regional
parliament. A new party, the Change List won 25 out
of 111 seats, taking many votes away from the PUK.
Then, at the beginning of 2011, protests broke out
in Sulaimaniyah, the base of the Patriotic Union.
These two events greatly weakened the PUK. It was
not only losing at the ballot box, but its standing
with the young was fading, and it appeared that it
could not even control its own territory. That meant
in effect, the KDP became the dominant of the two.
That is one main motivation for the series of
delays, because the PUK could lose even more if a
new round of voting was held. That would upset the
power sharing agreement that the two ruling parties
have with each other. This is why there has been a
slew of reporting recently that the Patriotic Union
is trying to reach out to the Change List, with some
even implying that the two could run together
against the KDP. Associate Professor of Political
Science at Wright State University Liam Anderson
pointed out that the elections are basically
meaningless, which is another factor. The way
Kurdistan is organized the Regional Government has
all the real authority and power over finances and
resources, making the provincial officials largely
powerless. There is no real reason for the KDP and
PUK to have the elections then. Even the opposition
parties know this, and therefore have complained
about the voting not happening, but has not push it
any farther, because if they happened, the most the
parties could get would be a symbolic victory. This
combination of the decline of the PUK, and the lack
of power in the provincial offices means that there
is no real motivation for Kurdish officials to push
ahead with the balloting. The only exception would
be if the PUK and Change List were able to overcome
their differences, and run together, then there
might be an opening. Otherwise, there will be more
and more delays.
Iraqi law requires provincial elections every four
years. Kurdistan has been able to ignore that for
the last three years. Officials have come up with
one justification after another for not holding them
from having the balloting too close to others, to no
election law, or problems with the existing one.
More are to come, because the PUK and KDP would
rather maintain the status quo, than open the door
for the former to lose out even more to the latter,
and for the opposition to perhaps gain more
positions even if they are not really important. The
ruling parties determining everything in Kurdistan,
and if they don’t want to do something, it doesn’t
get done. That’s the case with the Kurdish
provincial elections, which shows the limits of
democracy in Iraq today.
FOOTNOTES
1. Radio Free Iraq, “Preparations for the early
elections boards the provinces of Kurdistan,” 7/3/11
2. AK News, “We prefer to defer provincial councils
elections, says KREB Chief,” 6/3/10
SOURCES
Agence France Presse, “Iraq Kurds indefinitely
postpone provincial elections,” 6/5/12
- “Iraq’s Barzani calls for Kurdistan reforms,”
3/21/11
Ahmad, Zanko, “hidden motives? campaign to oust
Iraqi pm sees old enemies reunite,” Niqash, 6/7/12
AK News, “Official: Provincial elections necessary
to allay doubts about democracy,” 6/3/10
- “Preparations underway for Iraqi provincial
elections,” 4/10/10
- “We prefer to defer provincial councils elections,
says KREB Chief,” 6/3/10
Ali, Ahmed, “Patriotic Union of Kurdistan: Revival
or Mere Survival?” Arab Reform Bulleting, 2/24/10
Ali, Hiba, “Candidates for Kurdistan provincial
elections to be registered next month,” AK News,
4/3/12
Ali, Saman, “IHEC urges Kurdistan amend provincial
elections law soon,” AK News, 4/3/11
Alsumaria, “Kurdistan provincial elections due end
of October,” 6/8/10
Anderson, Associated Professor Liam, conversation
June 2012
Barzanji, Yahya, “New candidate emerges among Iraq’s
Kurds,” Associated Press, 5/2/09
Danly, James, “The 2009 Kurdish Elections,”
Institute for the Study of War,” 7/23/09
Karem, Harem, “Kurdistan Region provincial elections
delayed – why?” Kurdistan Tribune, 6/6/12
Hamad, Qassim Khidhir, “erbil governor pledges more
development,” Niqash, 9/4/09
Mohammed, Fryad, “Date for Kurdistan provincial
elections set,” AK News, 12/28/11
- “KRG to enter provincial elections separately,” AK
News, 1/8/12
- “Kurdistan allots $25 million to provincial
elections,” AK News, 6/17/11
Mohammed, Hazhar, “Kurdistan sets date for
provincial elections,” AK News, 3/29/11
Radio Free Iraq, “Preparations for the early
elections boards the provinces of Kurdistan,” 7/3/11
Rudaw, “Kurdistan’s Opposition Doesn’t Rule Out
Protests,” 6/17/11
Zagros, Roman and Mahmood, Azeez, “Third Force in
Kurdish Politics Mooted,” Institute for War and
Peace Reporting, 3/30/09
Zebari, Abdel Hamid, “Request to postpone the
elections in the provinces of Kurdistan,” Radio Free
Iraq, 5/21/12
- “Resentment of the postponement of elections in
the provinces of Kurdistan,” Radio Free Iraq, 6/5/12
Joel Wing, with an MA in International Relations,
Joel Wing has been researching and writing about
Iraq since 2002. His acclaimed blog, Musings on
Iraq, is currently listed by the New York Times and
the World Politics Review. In addition, Mr. Wing’s
work has been cited by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, the Guardian and the
Washington Independent. You may visit his Blog
Musings On Iraq at musingsoniraq.blogspot.com
Copyright © 2012 ekurd.net
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