Political gridlock deepens in Sulaimani after resignation of acting governor

SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region— The unexpected resignation of Sulaimani’s Acting Governor Sardar Qadir has plunged Kurdistan Region’s largest province into more uncertainty following last year’s bitter feud between the winning parties over the powerful post. 

The Sulaimani Provincial Council has been awash with controversy and political upheaval over the past year after the resignation of former Governor Aso Faridon as tensions deepened between his Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the opposition Change Movement (Gorran). 

“I resign from my post as I am unable to speak about the grievances of people. Neither am I able to do much for the civil servants whose wages have been cut, or speak about the popular protests,” Qadir said in his resignation statement on Tuesday.   

Gorran’s frontrunner Haval Abubakir won the popular vote in 2014 provincial elections in Sulaimani but he was short of securing the all-important confidence vote in the provincial council as the PUK blocked his ascendance to power. 

PUK accused Abubakir of having been a former Baath sympathiser in the late 1980s and refused to endorse him to take the office despite a landslide victory defeating his PUK rival Faridon with large margins. 

Abubakir has consistently denied links to the Baath Party and accused the PUK of undermining the popular vote. 

Following a power-sharing deal between the two parties, PUK’s Faridon took office in August 2014 for a two-year tenure and would according to the agreement leave office for Abubakir to replace him in 2016. 

But Gorran’s refusal to seek endorsement from the Kurdish president, which is required for a governor-elect under Iraqi and Kurdish laws, deprived Abubakir of his second chance of assuming office. 

Gorran has so far rejected to recognise Kurdish President Massoud Barzani’s prolonged mandate in office after Barzani’s extended second term ended in 2015. The party said seeking presidential support would endorse Barzani’s third full term in office which Gorran has deemed unconstitutional. 

“The solution is that the PUK and Gorran come together and produce an agreement. It is primarily for Gorran to come to terms with the political reality,” said Dana Jaza, a member of the provincial council.