ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— The lead-up to Saturday’s legislative elections in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region has spurred a flurry of near-celebrations on the streets of Erbil, the Kurdish capital.
On the walls of nearly every office and home, hanging from lamp posts or moving along on the sides of busses, are the smiling, bearded or turbaned campaign posters and banners of about 1,000 candidates in Saturday’s race for the 111-seat Kurdish assembly. Colorful party flags billow in the wind.
For many foreigners or Kurds who have spent long years abroad -- and there are many of both in this three-province Kurdish enclave that remains Iraq’s only haven of calm and economic prosperity – the elections evoke both curiosity and excitement.
Elections in Iraqi Kurdistan, which has had its own Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, have been internationally as free and fair, and as the only successful democratic experiment in the region.
“I've seen the Kurdistan Region develop into what it is today and it's impressive to see Kurds using their right to vote seriously,” noted Adam Mirani, a photographer who was born in a mixed Kurdish and Canadian family. “In the past they did not have this right,” Mirani explained.
“Many expats have not been around long enough to see the changes that have taken place and only hear about the more recent complaints and controversies,” said Mirani, who has spent his life living between Canada and Iraqi Kurdistan.
There are problems here that need to be discussed and dealt with, but in my opinion the KRG is addressing these issues,” he said.
John Smith, an English teacher from Britain, expressed his concern about the democratic nature of the elections.
“It doesn’t seem democratic in the sense that there isn’t equality of exposure,” said Smith, referring to the strong grip on politics of the region’s ruling parties.
“I think it’s good that they do have democracy, but it isn’t that far along into the democracy yet. It’s still a strongman democracy,” Smith said.
But he still sees seeds of hope for a more equal democracy in the future.
“I do like the idea of the (opposition) Gorran party – for change, against corruption, and wanting it to be more open. But all the elites in this patriarchal society don’t like them,” Smith said.
George Millan, a Spanish national working for a small oil and gas service company, echoed Smith’s skepticism.
“I think it’s a required election, but I don’t know how transparent the elections will be,” Millan noted, highlighting the noticeable difference between the campaigns of the KDP and the other parties, even the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) the region’s second-largest party and a ruling partner in the KRG.
Before he came to Erbil, Millan said it was difficult to find much information online about Kurdistan.
“There is barely any info on ‘the other Iraq’. When I came here the first time I did a bit of research because I knew very little about this place. But it is unlikely that someone will come here at normal pay unless he or she sees it first and realizes it is not dangerous and that you can have a pretty good life here,” Millan said.
Millan said that the elections were being taken seriously, and that oil companies had received an official letter from the government, ordering them to allow their local staff free time to cast their ballots.
Millan said he expects voter turn-out to be much higher than in the West. “They aren’t forced by law to vote, but people here do vote,” he said.
Mirani, the photographer, said that Saturday’s elections were important, but they were a step in a long process.
“This place has taken decades to get to this point, and although it is still not perfect, Iraqi Kurds are moving forward,” he said. “Western democracies did not become what they are today overnight, nor are they perfect, so what the Kurds have accomplished since 1991 and 2003, is quite impressive.”
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