ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Aso Mamand, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) chief in Kirkuk, urged voters to turn out in the final hours of polling, describing non-participation as “a big betrayal.” Qubad Talabani, deputy prime minister of the KRG, earlier warned Kurds could lose the city.
“Kurdish people in Kirkuk understand that this election is important for each Kurdish citizen in this city … I call on Kurdish people of Kirkuk to endure and try to not let their vote go in vain,” he told Rudaw, adding that no matter what they face or what technical problems they experience, Kurdish people must try and vote.
He accused some parties in Hawija and several IDP camps of attempting to commit fraud.
“We have proof and we have surely sued [the perpetrators].”
Mamand also said some electronic voting machines have stopped working in Kurdish neighborhood and demanded a solution.
Qubad Talabani warned earlier that if the Kurdish turnout continues to be low in Kirkuk “we will lose it.”
Describing the current turnout as “catastrophic,” he urged people to head to polling stations during the remaining two hours of voting “to prove Kirkuk’s identity as Kurdistan.”
“Put aside all the complaints you have. If we do not do that, we will lose our Kurdish seats in the Jerusalem of Kurdistan to the Arabs and Turkmens and those wanting to fail Kurdistan.”
Mohammed Khorshid, KDP chief in Kirkuk, which has boycotted the election, told his party’s official media Kurdistan TV: “The cause of the coldness of people in the election and low turnout is the betrayals of October 16.”
He also claimed that Hashd and other Iraqi forces have voted illegally in Kirkuk, and have prevented Kurds from voting.
The Nishtiman (Homeland) List, which consists of Gorran, Komal and the Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ), and is only standing in Kirkuk, also called on the people of the city to cast their votes, reported Payam TV, the official media of Komal.
After casting his vote in the city Arshad Salihi, head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC), said: “We will prioritize the resolution of the Kirkuk issue after the elections,” reported the Turkmen Press Agency.
“The issues among Kirkuk people should be taken out of the hands of Erbil and Sulaimani,” he said, referring to the PUK and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). The Kirkuk issue “should be resolved by Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds themselves, and in coordination with Baghdad,” he added.
There are 13 seats up for grabs in the multiethnic city of Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrian Christians, Sunni Arabs and other minorities. The oil rich region, which is experiencing an ongoing ISIS threat, is considered a disputed territory.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution calls for the normalization of areas it refers to as disputed, to be followed by a referendum on whether those regions want to be part of the Kurdistan Region or Iraq.
According to the constitution, the article should have been implemented by the end of 2007, yet so far no referendum has taken place.
