Disagreement between ruling parties, minorities shows troubled road for Kurdistan Region elections

Peregraf- Erbil

There is broad agreement among the Kurdistan Region’s political parties about the importance of holding regional parliamentary elections later this year, but none of them were able to guarantee that the polls will actually take place as scheduled on November 18.

The Kurdistan Region’s Independent High Electoral and Referendum Commission (IHERC) says that it needs six months in order to prepare for elections, yet its mandate has not yet been renewed with just days until that deadline.

With that in mind, Peregraf spoke to all of the political parties in the Kurdistan Region, including those from ethnic and religious minority communities, to assess the current state of play.

The minorities parties are at odds

Out of the 111 seats in the Kurdistan Parliament, five seats are allocated to Turkmens, five seats to Christians, and one seat to the Armenians, for a total of eleven reserved minority seats, according According to Article 8 (Law No. 2 of 2009 of the Fourth Amendment to the Kurdistan National Assembly Election Law No. 1 of 1992, as amended).

During a recent meeting with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), it became apparent that the Turkmen and Christian parties held different views about the election.

Aydin Ma'roof, a representative of the Turkmen Front, told Peregraf that his party is in favor of the Kurdistan Region being a single constituency, rather than four separate ones based on the governorates. Moreover, the Turkmen Front is not in favor of creating a special register for the minorities that would separate them from the general rolls and prevent their vote from being diluted by ethnic Kurds.

“We have asked for the minorities not to have a special vote, which is now one of the most obvious actions of the parties in their interference in the minority seats,” Ma'roof said.

At the UNAMI meeting, representatives of Christians fromSulaimaniyah and Koya agreed with the Turkmens that there should not be special voting rolls, but called for multiple constituencies. Critically, they called for some Christian seats to be formally associated with specific constituencies including Sulaimaniyah.

Ramsi Hikmat, a Christian figure from Hermote near Koya, told Peregraf that there were more than 4,000 Christians in his area.He said that over the past five terms of parliament, no Christian MPs have visited Koya and Sulaimaniyah to attend to the needs of local Christian voters.

"The Christian seats cannot be usurped for Erbil and Duhok. They do not represent Christians, but they represent a particular party,” Hikmat said. "The Christian parties close to the government asked for one constituency because they will be voted for by the government in a special vote."

Parliament is waiting for the parties

The Kurdistan Parliament’s electoral committee has completed its work to renew IHERC’s mandate and has sent documents forcandidates to serve on that renewed body to the parliament speaker.

Abbas Fatah, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) MP on the committee, told Peregraf that 52 out of 87 CVs presented to the committee met the necessary requirements and were forwardedon for further consideration.

The committee includes Bzhar Kochar, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) representative, Balen Ismail, a Change Movement (Gorran) representative, Rubina Omlik, a Christian representative, and Sara Dilshad Chawshly, a Turkmen representative.

"When the political parties come to an agreement on the issue of amending the commission and amending the election law, then Parliament will meet on the issue," Fatah said, who added that his party and the KDP had agreed not to hold a parliamentary session until they were ready to move on the electoral law.

PUK and KDP: We have a 90 percent agreement

The PUK, the KDP, and the other parties have agreed on all issues except for the minority seats. The KDP wants to keep the current system and the PUK is demanding four of the eleven seats be elected specifically from Sulaimaniyah.

Ali Shuani, an advisor to the PUK's electoral agency, confirmed to Peregraf that the parties “agreed to resolve 90 percent of the disputes during the first meeting, only the minority seats are remaining.”

Shuani said that UNAMI suggested a compromise where one Turkmen seat and one Christian seat were given to Sulaimaniyah, but the PUK demanded four seats, arguing that there are Christians in Sulaimaniyah and they deserve to elect their true representatives. The party is now waiting on the KDP’s response.

He said that it was no secret that the conflict between the KDP and the PUK on the issue has created tensions within the minority communities.

"They have the right to have their own representatives. [IHERC]can create a special register for them within a few months. That may be some kind of solution,” Shuani said. "The KDP supported this proposal for Iraq, so let it be implemented in Kurdistan as well.”

Kawa Gardi, a member of the KDP Election Bureau, agreed with Shuani that the parties have reached an agreement on 90 percent of election issues.

“For my part, I do not think there needs to be a link between the reactivation of the commission and amending the electoral law. The KDP is in favor of reactivating the commission as soon as possible to start preparing for the elections," Gardi told Peregraf.

As for the minority seats, Gardi said that, in fact, the KDP was waiting for the PUK to make a move and drop its claim to minority seats tied to Sulaimaniyah.

"We have nothing to do with the minority seats. Let them decide for themselves,” he said. “Most of the minorities, even those who came from Sulaimaniyah and participated in the meetings, demanded a single constituency.”

“We have no disagreement with any party, but we have asked the minorities to decide for themselves. If this issue cannot be resolved in outside meetings, let it be resolved in Parliament,”Gardi added.

Currently, the KDP has 45 seats in the Kurdistan Parliament. The PUK has 21 seats, with the others belonging to Gorran and other smaller parties, many of whose MPs have resigned from Parliament.

The KDP official panned the UNAMI proposal, saying that it did not solve the problem.

The Kurdistan Region has never held an election on time since the first parliamentary elections in 1992. The current parliament session should have ended last autumn, but was controversially extended by a year.

“As time passes, we face many problems. If the commission is not reactivated this month and the law is not amended, it will be difficult to hold the elections on schedule,” Gardi said.

The Commission gives warning

IHERC itself has issued a warning that continued fighting over the electoral process will “weaken” citizens’ confidence in the vote.

Shirwan Zrar, commission spokesperson, told Peregraf that "the bad relationship between the parties…has a great impact on the minds of citizens and their distrust of the election process affects the participation rate.”

However, Zrar declined to comment on whether these disputes would postpone the elections again.

"The unhealthy treatment in the media by both parties in power will cause the lowest participation rates in the elections since 1992, which further weakens the position of the Kurdistan Region both domestically and internationally,” Zrar warned.

Last year, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani set October 1 as the date for the election, but they were missed and parliament’s term extended.

This extension has been challenged in court by Shaswar Abdulwahid’s New Generation Movement and former Kurdistan Parliament Speaker Yousef Mohammed. The ruling has been repeatedly delayed and the next hearing in the case will be on May 24.

Legal changes

Aram Jamal, an elections expert, believes that procedural slowness and the lack of serious steps by Parliament are the reasons for why the election may again be delayed.

"If they wanted to hold clean elections, the electoral law should have been changed, but these forces have failed to enact a new law and system," Jamal told Peregraf.

The current electoral law was passed in 1992. Some parties had previously called for amendments, but they have never been seriously considered in recent years.

“In 2009, the PUK agreed to an amendment to the electoral law that allocated 11 seats to the minorities afraid at the establishment of Gorran and a strong opposition,” said Jamal.

Earlier this month, the PUK filed a lawsuit in Iraq’s Federal Courts to amend the electoral law after being unable to do so in Parliament.

He added that there is a need to address the imbalances in the current system, but that tying minority seats to individual constituencies will not solve the problem.

“The radical solution is for the minorities to have their own electoral rolls and Kurdish voters are not allowed to participate,” Jamal said.

"The KDP does not want to give up the eleven seats, which will affect the formation of the next government. If the elections are postponed this time, it will cost the Kurdistan Region a lot, and they have to pay more of price than the last year.”