SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish politicians in Iraq’s volatile Diyala province say they are not optimistic about their chances in next month’s local elections, because many Kurdish residents driven out by violence will be unable to vote.
The April 20 election is a tug-of-war among Iraq’s Shiite-led government, its large Sunni minority and the ethnic Kurds who have their own autonomous enclave in the north.
The Kurds and Shiites both claim large tracts of disputed northern territories, including in Diyala, where the Kurds say that intensified terrorist attacks against them since 2008 has driven out many Kurdish families.
“A large number of Kurdish families who have fled the area will not be able to vote,” said Jafar Mustafa, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the provincial capital, Khanaqin.
Officials from the Patriotic union of Kurdistan (PUK) and KDP said that since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, more than 550 members of their parties have been killed and thousands of Kurdish families have fled the province.
“Twelve thousand Kurds, who fled the city, will not be able to vote,” said Ibrahim Bajalan, the PUK spokesman in Khanaqin.
Kurdish officials insist on the importance of unity in their political groups in the area, noting that the Kurdish Brotherhood Coalition, which will contest the polls, includes all Kurdish political parties.
Bajalan said that by choosing a candidate from the Kurdish Socialist Party as the top candidate of the Kurdish Brotherhood bloc, the PUK and KDP showed that they are willing to set aside party’s interests. “We are in a fierce contest with the rival factions in the area,” he added.
In the 2005 provincial elections, the Kurdish bloc won six seats out of 29 in the Diyala provincial council. Later, a Kurdish candidate was elected the council head.
Anwar Hussein, the mayor of Diyala’s disputed Jalawla district, predicted that out of 900,000 eligible voters, “The number of Kurdish votes won’t be more than 70,000 in Dyala.”
Hussein also said that in the midst of election campaigning, Kurdish families are still fleeing the area.
“More than 1,700 Kurdish families have left Jalawla town,” he said. “The Kurds make up only 30 percent of the town of Mandali, whereas they comprised more than 70 percent of the population in the 1970s,” he added. He said that the Kurds may only win five seats in this election.
Fear of election day violence already has gripped some Kurdish neighborhoods, including in Sadia and Jalawla.
The PUK head in Sadia recalled that during the 2010 parliamentary elections, terrorist groups had shelled the Kurdish neighborhoods with heavy weapons. “Without a doubt, the security situation won’t be better this time,” he predicted.
He said that while the Kurdish families are leaving the area, 700 Arab families have been brought to the area.
“We must not let these new Arab families vote,” he said.
Arab tribal leaders reject that the situation is difficult for the Kurds.
Walid Khalid, the head of Khalid tribe, said, “We are not against the Kurds and we wish them victory.” He added, “Just because we are not Kurds doesn’t mean we will not vote for them. The Kurds are good people.”
Hassan Abdulrahman, the head of KDP’s office in Sadia, said, “We must bring back those Kurdish families, who have fled to the Kurdistan Region, to vote on election day.
“The Kurdish population is now less than 10 percent in Sadia. The Iraqiya bloc , the largest Sunni faction, is the strongest in the area,” he said.
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