political victims: election winners kill voters in iraqi kur

[Aslan]

There were a number of injuries and deaths during and after election campaigns in Iraqi Kurdistan recently. Who’s to blame? Traditions that involve firing a gun to celebrate and politicians who aggravated partisan tensions, locals say.

The parties who lost seats in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan are not the only ones who suffered injuries in recent elections. Over 50 locals were physically injured and as many as six killed during the campaigning, and when the preliminary results of elections were announced.

Many of the casualties were a result of the tradition of firing guns into the air as a sign of celebration. This practice is common in the Middle East at weddings and other events. However some of the injuries were also the result of altercations between different parties’ supporters.

Most of the incidents took place in Sulaymaniyah where around 36 people were wounded. In Erbil, around 16 were wounded and in Dohuk, eight were injured.

Local security forces have promised to bring the offenders responsible for the injuries to justice. However up until now, there doesn’t seem to have been much movement on any of the cases, including Mohammed’s – he filed a complaint against his suspected assailants.

“The police have arrested a number of suspects in shooting incidents and other investigations are ongoing,” Awat Mohammed, the head of Sulaymaniyah’s security committee, told NIQASH.

Mohammed also said that the local authorities would provide compensation to the families of those who had died.

Some of the methods used during the election campaigning were leading to an escalation in partisan tension between competing factions, civil society activist Sarcat Ahmad, explained. “The parties don’t care how they win votes, even if they lead to the deaths of innocent people,” Ahmad added.

Ismail Mahmoud, another member of the security committee, said that the issue should be discussed by politicians so as to avoid these kinds of injuries and deaths every four years. “All parties should work hard not to let the political tension get to the voters and to ensure that such incidents don’t happen in the future,” Mahmoud said.