Kurdistan Region Opposition Parties Look Forward to Provinci

[Aslan]

SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – Even though the Kurdistan Region’s September polls are likely to be postponed, opposition groups are confident they will win the majority of votes in the next provincial elections, particularly in Sulaimani province.

The leader of the Change Movement (Gorran) Nawshirwan Mustafa raised the hopes of opposition politicians after he told members and supporters of his group last week, “We want to get into power in order to put our agenda into practice.”

It is likely that Kurdistan’s parliamentary, presidential and provincial elections, that were initially set for September, will be postponed in order for all parties to resolve the issue of the region’s constitution.

But opposition leaders, among them the Kurdistan Islamic Union and the Islamic League (Komal) say that in the next elections, they will win more votes than they did in the 2009 elections.

“Our main goal is to win the next elections so that we can keep the promises we have made,” says Jabar Jalal, a senior Gorran member.

Jalal said that his group will certainly win Sulaimani’s provincial posts and that they will “try our best in Erbil for the best results.”

In the 2009 elections Gorran won 25 of the 111 seats of the Kurdish parliament. In Iraq’s 2010 provincial elections Gorran won still more votes than its main rival, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Sulaimani.

Kurdistan’s two ruling parties, the PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), who have run on a joint list in most previous elections, have decided to run separately in the next elections.

This, opposition leaders hope, will play out in their favor. Some even think of forming an opposition alliance in the provincial elections in order to secure a victory.

“If we feel that as the opposition we have enough votes to guarantee us a victory, we might form an alliance to secure the governorship,” said Abubakir Haladini, a senior Islamic Union leader.

Haladini believes that the provincial posts are as important as parliamentary posts.

For the past few years Kurdistan’s three main opposition groups have stressed that the region does not have a fair election law and they demand amending the existing law through the constitution.

Amending the law may result in the postponement of the provincial elections alongside the presidential elections.

Current members of Sulaimani provincial council are skeptical that elections may be held on time.

“We don’t really know by which law the next elections will be held,” says Hassan Abdullah, an Islamist member of the provincial council.

Provincial elections were last held in the Kurdistan Region in 2005.