More Than 250,000 New Voters in Upcoming Kurdistan Elections

[Aslan]

SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – More than a quarter-million residents of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region have reached voting age and will be eligible for the first time to vote in the local and presidential polls in September, an elections commissioner said.

“Since the 2009 elections, 80,000 new voters in Erbil, 50,000 in Duhok and 138,000 in Sulaimani have become eligible to vote in the next elections,” said Hundren Muhammad, the head of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Erbil.

In 2009, 2.5 million citizens of the three-province enclave, which has an estimated total population of five million, were eligible to vote.

Polls for the regional presidency and parliament will be held in September, although the date has not been officially announced.

Every political party -- including ruling partners Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the main opposition Change Movement (Gorran) and smaller Islamic parties that may form coalitions -- is vying for those new votes.

“No one knows who the majority of these new voters will support in the upcoming election,” said Zana Rostai, the former head of the Islamic League’s electoral office.

However, the head of Gorran’s elections office argued that past experience has shown that the younger voters vote in favor of the opposition.

Rebar Ali, 19, believes the majority of the new voters will support the opposition. However, Hemn Rauf, a new voter, said, “This is not necessarily true; people know who deserves their vote.”

Gorran’s sudden emergence injected vigor and interest in the 2009 elections, when 24 political factions competed fiercely for 111 parliamentary seats. Officials said that the number of parliamentary seats will remain unchanged in the September polls.

[Anthea]

Kurdistan is fast becoming an extremely exciting and interesting place

It is such a shame that Kurds in other areas are not as proud or determined to rule themselves and pass on the Kurdish heritage to future generations