|
Change Movement (Gorran) claims to be
second most popular party in Iraq's Kurdistan
7.8.2012 |
|
|
|
Nawshirwan Mustafa, founder of Change, the Kurdish
opposition party, greets supporters at an election
rally in Sulaimaniyah March 3, 2010. Photo: AFP/Getty
Images •
See Related Links
August 7, 2012
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq',— Nawshirwan Mustafa,
leader of the Change Movement (Gorran), claims his
party is second in the Kurdistan Region, after the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
In an interview with KNN TV this week, Mustafa said,
“If we look at votes, Gorran comes after the KDP,
which makes Gorran the second most popular political
party. The PUK occupies the third position.”
Arez Abdulla, a member of the political bureau of
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), denied
Mustafa’s claim, saying, “Of course, you do not
expect a rival party to place you in front of
itself.”
He added, “In the next election, we will find the
claim that the PUK is the third party untrue.”
Mustafa was the former deputy secretary of the PUK,
but split with the party to form Gorran during the
July 2009 elections. The party has since come to
lead the opposition in Kurdistan.
In the Kurdistan Region’s last parliamentary
elections, the KDP won 30 seats, the PUK won 29 and
Gorran won 25 seats. Two of Gorran’s MPs broke away
from the party and became independents.
The PUK has placed second in Kurdistan elections
since 1992. However, during the most recent
election, the PUK entered an alliance with the KDP,
a step which made it difficult to measure the
party’s individual success.
Abdulla does not deny the effect that Gorran’s break
from the PUK has left on the party, but says, “If we
combine the votes of the PUK and Gorran, we see that
our votes have increased compared to those of the
2005 elections. But when part of the PUK breaks
away, then of course the party’s votes decrease.”
Abdulla challenged Mustafa’s comments about the
PUK’s ranking, saying, “Mr. Mustafa’s words will not
affect the PUK. If his words could affect the PUK,
they would have affected the PUK when Gorran broke
away. Gorran has broken away from PUK. Of course,
they will not say good things about the PUK.”
“We do not expect our rivals to say that the PUK is
the number one party,” he added.
Azad Chalak, the director of Gorran’s relations in
Baghdad, supports Mustafa’s claim and agrees that
Gorran ranks second among Kurdistan’s political
parties according to the votes. Chalak believes the
popularity of both ruling parties – the PUK and KDP
– is in decline.
However, Narmin Osman, a member of the PUK’s
leadership council, says, “Let them wait for the
elections to take place. Then we will find out who
ranks first and who ranks second.”
Osman compared her party’s popularity to Gorran’s
throughout the Kurdistan Region. “The PUK has
supporters in Duhok; Gorran does not,” she said. “In
Kirkuk, the PUK is the largest party. Gorran does
not have that many supporters there. In Erbil, we
are the second largest party. In Sulaimani, we are
competing for votes.”
Osman added, “Now, politics have changed. We work on
offering projects. We no longer rely on only the
votes of our members. We forward projects and see
who votes for us.”
The eight seats that Gorran won in the Iraqi
parliamentary elections in March 2010 all came from
votes in Erbil and Sulaimani provinces. The PUK,
meanwhile, won 13 seats in Erbil, Sulaimani, Kirkuk
and Diyala.
Abdulla believes his party is in competition with
the KDP, who has 30 seats in Iraqi Parliament, for
first place.
“Even in the Iraqi parliamentary elections, the KDP
was the first party, followed by the PUK,” he says.
“In the coming elections, if we do not secure first
place, we will have second place without a doubt.”
Muthana Amin, a political analyst and a member of
the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), says elections
are one way to measure a party’s weight. He believes
Gorran has benefited from the problems between the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad.
“The ruling parties in Kurdistan have not been able
to convince the public on gas and oil and other
issues with Baghdad. Gorran took advantage of the
issues,” he said,www.ekurd.net
adding that political parties have to win votes by
attracting voters to their side of the story on
current issues.
Regarding Mustafa’s interview, Azad Jundiyani,
spokesman of the PUK, told Rudaw, “In fact, that
statement by Mustafa was inappropriate. However,
people are free to say what they want about the
issues. No one prevents anyone from telling the
story in their words.”
He added, “The PUK and KDP are the two major parties
in Kurdistan. They have won most of the
parliamentary seats and formed the KRG. This issue
should be viewed from that angle, not other angles.”
By Hevidar Ahmed
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency,
rudaw.net
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the
content of news information on this page
|
®
