Kurdistan’s Main Islamic Parties Decide to Run Separately in

[Aslan]

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Region’s two main Islamic groups announced this week they would run separately in September’s local elections, ending months of speculation over whether Islamic groups would run under a single banner.

“We will run separately and with new energy and separate goals in the upcoming elections,” the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and Islamic League (Komal) said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

That ended months of serious speculation over whether the Kurdish Islamic parties may run on a joint slate in Kurdistan’s parliamentary elections in September.

Komal’s spokesperson Muhammad Hakim told Rudaw that it is in his party’s best interest to participate independently.

“Our assessment of the current situation in Kurdistan and our party’s interests told us that it is better to run alone in the elections,” he said. “But we’ll still maintain full cooperation with other Islamic groups.”

The decision by the two parties has been a disappointment to the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK), which had first proposed the idea of a joint Islamic bloc.

“Unfortunately, we got to hear about their decision on TV,” said Kamal Rahim, head of the IMK’s political bureau. “They were supposed to come and consult us first,” he complained.

Hadi Ali, a major Islamic figure in Kurdistan and former member of the KIU’s political bureau, said he believes that identical religious beliefs do not mean that all Islamic parties should band together in the elections.

“Having one religion and one prophet doesn’t mean we should also have one list in the elections,” Ali told Rudaw.

“The Islamic parties do not have a strategic national agenda and they do not have much faith winning a majority vote,” added Ali. “Their participation is only for the sake of participation and not for winning the elections,” he opined.

[Cewlik]

Maybe the Yakgrtu (KIU) and Komal could get more votes with separate lists.

[Shirko]

Glad that there are still some Islamic parties left in Kurdistan, maybe they can get more votes separately, then they can help form a coalition government with the main parties.

[Anthea]

Glad that there are still some Islamic parties left in Kurdistan, maybe they can get more votes separately, then they can help form a coalition government with the main parties.

Do you think they will have very much influence in they stand as smaller parties - or is it a case of divide and conquer

[Shirko]

Glad that there are still some Islamic parties left in Kurdistan, maybe they can get more votes separately, then they can help form a coalition government with the main parties.

Do you think they will have very much influence in they stand as smaller parties - or is it a case of divide and conquer

I think they will have more influence if they stand as one party. I am.not sure what you mean by divide and conquer, who exaclty?

[Piling]

During the last elections, Islamic Group of Kurdistan had to join with leftist parties (Reform and Service List) for getting 13 seats in Parliament, while Islamic Union got only 2 seats. That's a funny situation when 2 religious parties are unable to agree each others and rather to join with secular and leftist movements. I am not sure that they could hope more seats by running separately.

I don't know why they are unable to form a united list, for ideological reasons or leadership issue.

[Cewlik]

During the last elections, Islamic Group of Kurdistan had to join with leftist parties (Reform and Service List) for getting 13 seats in Parliament, while Islamic Union got only 2 seats.

That is wrong. In the last elections, the Yakgrtu (KIU) and Komal participated in the elections as one list with 2 other leftist parties (Service and Reform List).

And now the Yakgrtu denied the failure of the formation of a Islamic list. So we must wait to see what they will decide.

http://www.kurdiu.org/en/hawal/index.php?pageid=126975

[Piling]

Oh, you're right. I made a confusion between Islamic Union and the Islamic Movement. The problem with all these parties is their quite similar names and the various way they are translated in many languages.