“We as the Change Movement reject the entirety of the election results in the Region’s provinces, Kirkuk and the diaspora, and we assure the people of Kurdistan and Gorran’s voters that we won’t compromise on their votes and we will reclaim their rights,” reads a statement from Gorran, in which it cites the support of the Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ), the Islamic League of Kurdistan (Komal), and the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU).
“Every option is open to the Change Movement,” the statement adds. The party claims “systematic fraud” changed the democratic will of the people after they “punished the failing, pillaging, and land selling authority” at the ballot box.
It dubbed all acts of election rigging as a danger to civilians and peaceful social struggle. It also thanked its supporters who rushed to its headquarters on Saturday evening when the site reportedly came under attack by armed rivals.
Gorran’s HQ was allegedly attacked by what the party termed “Talabani militias,” referring to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)’s security forces, a charge the PUK and the head of the PUK’s powerful counterterrorism forces flatly deny. Videos show tracer bullets hitting the party’s building.
The statement comes amid claims of election rigging. The newer opposition parties say the apparent sharp increase in votes for the PUK and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) are the result of fraud.
Iraq's immigration minister, Darbaz Muhammed, who is a Gorran member, announced earlier on Sunday that three commissions will come to the Kurdistan Region to investigate election outcomes.
In a Facebook post, he said commissions from Baghdad will come “to examine any fraud” in the election polls in the three provinces of the Kurdistan Region.
He did not specify whether these would be from Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) or from the government.
The PUK will accept the investigations for the elections, but rejects slandering the party.
“We will not accept defaming PUK, but we welcome any investigation into the election results,” said Saadi Pira, the spokesperson for the PUK’s politburo.
Pira pointed out that there were also voting irregularities in Kurdistan's other two provinces, but they are remaining unified.
“[They] have complaints over the election results in Duhok and Erbil, but have not tried to create instability,” added Pira.
According to PUK media, the party has won in 40 polling stations in Sulaimani city in Iraq’s parliamentary election. Gorran claims the electronic voting system has been hacked, and has demanded a manual recount.
The PUK won 21 seats in the 2014 election, second-most behind the KDP's 25. Gorran won 9. The parties put on a united front through the budget negotiations in Baghdad. However, they are an opposition party that withdrew from the KRG in 2017.
Sulaimani has the most eligible voters in the Kurdistan Region with 18 seats up for grabs.
Across Iraq, official turnout was 44.52 percent, down from 63 percent in 2014.
