ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Islamic Union, one of the opposition parties in Iraqi Kurdistan, wants to win supporters through its agenda of total reform of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said its leader, Muhammad Faraj.
Faraj, who like other party leaders has an eye on elections for the parliament and presidency of the self-rule government in northern Iraq, said that the Islamic Union wants “reform in all the fields of politics, economy and the system of governance.”
Following two months of anti-government protests in Sulaimani in 2011, the three opposition groups -- the Islamic Union, the Change Movement (Gorran) and the Islamic League (Komal) presented a set of recommendations for reform to the KRG.
Faraj believes that the government still needs to consider those recommendations.
“We have provided the government with solutions, we have given them packaged solutions that are based on the wishes of the people,” he said. “It is now up to the government to act.”
Opposition groups, led by Gorran, demand that the constitution be sent to parliament for amendments. They want the self-autonomous government to be changed from a presidential to a parliamentary system.
“For a nation that has just begun to walk toward democracy, the concentration of powers in the hands of one person is not good,” said Faraj. “Hence, we want the system to be divided into two parts, presidential and parliamentary.”
Hoping to end a deadlock over the constitution, earlier this month regional President Massoud Barzani asked all political parties to present their recommendations to parliament, and Faraj believes that was the right move.
“I think it was a valid step,” he said. “Instead of leaving it to the politicians, I think it is better if the parliament decides on the legal issues. Politicians might create more tensions with the statements they make, but inside the parliament the MPs can talk face-to-face with less agitation.”
In the past several months there has been talk that Faraj’s predecessor, Salahadin Bahaddin, might be nominated for the presidency in the next elections. But Faraj said, “This is only speculation and not formal; but it is his right to run in the elections.”
He also dismissed claims that Bahhadin, who stepped down last year, is still running the party from behind the scenes.
“Bahaddin was our leader for 18 years; he is a national figure and without doubt he will have his own views regarding the events,” Faraj said. “We thank him if his views conform to ours. If not, we will ask him to stop.”
Faraj also denied that the opposition groups had together agreed to nominate Gorran leader Nawshirwan Mustafa, as a presidential candidate. “This is an issue that we will discuss later,” he said.
Faraj confirmed that leaders of the Islamic parties had contemplated running on a joint lost in the upcoming elections, but said that party members had rejected the idea.
