Peregraf- Surkew Mohammed
The Change Movement (Gorran) has tightened its conditions to a thorough reform in its new agreement with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the former opposition party will also have different procedures for those who gain governmental posts in his share.
By this, Gorran does not want to replicate its previous bitter experience in the government, on one hand, the reform remains only on paper, and on the other hand, those who gain posts through this political party will not benefit according to their personal interests. Hence the officials of Gorran are optimistic towards the newly-signed agreement.
On Monday, KDP and Gorran signed the political agreement over the formation of the future government in Kurdistan Region. The agreement includes all the different sectors and will be the agenda of governing for the next four years; Gorran’s officials reiterate that the new agreement includes what the movement founded, with the same purpose they had ten years ago.
Peregraf obtained the detail of the agreement from high sources in the KDP and Gorran, in which specifies that Gorran has preserved its critical vision in a new approach.
"One of our pre-conditions was that those who Gorran candidates to the governmental posts must be open-handed and not being obstructed at any level, KDP has accepted that," a high official from Gorran told Peregraf, also added "Gorran has the authority to dismiss whoever gains posts in its share and put another one in the place, nobody in the movement could use the posts to his own interest, we also have a committee within the party to evaluate the candidates."
The official, who spoke under condition of anonymity, also states that Gorran’s priority in the next government will be reform, "We will have a prime minister's assistance specific to reform, this is equal to the deputy of PM, who supervises the high council of reform within the government from all the levels."
The Gorran Movement used to be the most powerful opposition party from the beginning of its foundation in 2009. After the death of its leader Nawshirwan Mustafa, every step for the current leaders of the Movement proves to be challenging and is not readily accepted by the people and its members.
Ali Hama Salih, head of the Gorran’s bloc in Kurdistan Parliament, disclosed part of the agreement on his official Facebook account, asking people to "make a comparison between this agreement and Gorran’s previous reform packages, there is no difference."
Ali, who is a popular MP, confirmed that he is not going to be a candidate for any governmental post, rather he remains as MP, "from the parliament I would be an observer and working against persecution, corruption and injustice. I would be observing the commitment of this agreement in the government’s agenda."
What made the KDP and Gorran together on one side?
From the speech of the KDP and Gorran officials, it became clear that a point has made the two rival parties came together on one side, which is reform and change, as the way of governing Kurdistan Region in the next four years.
In their agreement, which was was inked during a special ceremony by Rozh Nouri Shaways of the KDP and Jalal Jawhar of Gorran, the KDP and Gorran have made a timeline of the reform commitment in KRG’s different sectors.
"For instance removing the salary withholding system should be in the first 100 days of the new cabinet of the government, all other points also have a timeline, if our demands are not met within its timeline, we will have a policy at the time," another high official of Gorran told Peregraf.
On September 30, 2018’s parliamentary election KDP has won 45 seats, The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) came second with 21 seats and Gorran movement with 12 seats.
The political agreement between the Gorran Movement and the KDP was approved during a meeting of Gorran’s National Assembly on Sunday.
According to the agreement, some top posts in the next cabinet of KRG are assigned to Gorran, including the Vice President of the Kurdistan Region, the Prime Minister’s assistance for Reform, four ministerial posts (eyes on the Ministry of Finance), also several deputy ministers, general directors and a head of a commission possibly Commission of Integrity.
Nechirvan Barzani would be the KDP nominee for the post of President of Kurdistan and will be elected in the parliament before the new Prime Minster, also the vice president will be elected in the parliament, and Mustafa Said Qadir from Gorran is the strongest candidate from the party for this post.
Gorran officials see the election of the president inside parliament as their achievement since they asked the parliamentary political system for Kurdistan since the beginning of the party’s establishment.
From the very beginning of the negotiation for the new cabinet formation, the KDP asked Gorran to participate in the government as the KDP wishes a strong and different cabinet from KRG lead by Masrour Barzani.
The high official of KDP elaborates to Peregraf "that Gorran can continue its critical vision towards the government with a new mechanism, and it is just for the sake of reform."
Regarding the same issue, the high official of Gorran also said "We will not be silent, and we would question our ministers first to every other ministers and officials, the KDP has accepted this, telling us to do what we want for the sake of reform."
Signing the political agreement came after seven meetings between the KDP and Gorran leadership over the past few months. It is the first agreement between the parties related to the formation of the new cabinet amidst the ongoing political conflict between the KDP and the PUK.
The agreement was followed by the parliament convention as it was the first session since the election on September 30. The speaker and its deputies were elected at the session.
Eradicating corruption and reform was the main slogan of many different parties since 2003 and especially the foundation of Gorran Movement in 2009 without any concrete results. This bitter experience played a major role in people doubting that the recent KDP-Gorran agreement could fulfil the reform dream.