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Kurdistan
Voter’s finger with ink after casting ballot in Iraq's provincial elections, 2013. File photo: UNAMI
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish parties are considering the option of running a joint list in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh when it holds local elections in April 2020, a week after they formed a similar joint list for the disputed province of Kirkuk.
To make it happen, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have engaged in a series of talks, yet no formal agreement has been reached.
“As the PUK, we are for the idea that Kurdistani political parties should run on a joint list in Nineveh province and we are ready to meet all the parties for this purpose,” Dawd Jundi, head of the PUK office in Shingal, told Rudaw on Monday.
“The PUK and KDP politburos have met to discuss the plan. But an agreement has not yet been reached.”
Provincial elections in Iraq are scheduled to take place on April 1, 2020, including those areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
Last week all Kurdish parties agreed to run jointly in the disputed province of Kirkuk – an ethnically diverse and oil rich region on the fault line between the Kurdistan Region and federal Iraq.
Kirkuk is a stronghold of the PUK where the party enjoys an outright majority.
Nineveh province is more important for the KDP, as it has consistently won the majority of Kurdish votes in the province since 2003.
“As the KDP, our stance is clear, we don’t want to join only with the PUK but all the Kurdish parties, form a joint front and run on a single list,” Ali Khalil, head of the KDP 14th Mosul branch office, told Rudaw.
Nineveh is the second largest province in Iraq, which is home to a mixed population of Arabs, Kurds, Christians, Turkmen, and other minority groups.
A third of the population of the province is Kurdish. Historically they have held top positions in the province including the head of the Nineveh Provincial Council and deputy governors.
Currently, of 39 members of the provincial council, 11 are Kurds including nine KDP members, three PUK members, and one member of the persecuted Yezidi minority.
The number of the seats on offer in April 2020 however is being cut to 27 – three of which are to go to the minorities as quotas, including one seat for Yezidis, one for the Shabaks, and another for the Christians.
“The KDP is viewing [the disputed areas in Nineveh province] as being Kurdistani,” the KDP official said. “We do not want to miss even a single Kurdish vote.”
“If we run on separate lists, the Kurdish vote will disperse. As the KDP, we are ready to visit all the parties.”
Last month, three Yezidi parties formed a coalition for the upcoming provincial election.
Haidar Shaho, whose party the Ezidi Democratic Party is a member of the coalition, said they would join a Kurdistani list on the condition it meets the interests of the Yezidi community.
“We have formed a coalition of our own and the decision so far is that we run on our own list,” Shasho said. “We cannot separate ourselves from Kurdistan. So far no Kurdistani party has approached us asking to join a single list of Kurdistani parties.”
“If they asked us and we found out that joining them would be in the interest of the Yezidi, we will be ready to join them,” he added.
To make it happen, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have engaged in a series of talks, yet no formal agreement has been reached.
“As the PUK, we are for the idea that Kurdistani political parties should run on a joint list in Nineveh province and we are ready to meet all the parties for this purpose,” Dawd Jundi, head of the PUK office in Shingal, told Rudaw on Monday.
“The PUK and KDP politburos have met to discuss the plan. But an agreement has not yet been reached.”
Provincial elections in Iraq are scheduled to take place on April 1, 2020, including those areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
Last week all Kurdish parties agreed to run jointly in the disputed province of Kirkuk – an ethnically diverse and oil rich region on the fault line between the Kurdistan Region and federal Iraq.
Kirkuk is a stronghold of the PUK where the party enjoys an outright majority.
Nineveh province is more important for the KDP, as it has consistently won the majority of Kurdish votes in the province since 2003.
“As the KDP, our stance is clear, we don’t want to join only with the PUK but all the Kurdish parties, form a joint front and run on a single list,” Ali Khalil, head of the KDP 14th Mosul branch office, told Rudaw.
Nineveh is the second largest province in Iraq, which is home to a mixed population of Arabs, Kurds, Christians, Turkmen, and other minority groups.
A third of the population of the province is Kurdish. Historically they have held top positions in the province including the head of the Nineveh Provincial Council and deputy governors.
Currently, of 39 members of the provincial council, 11 are Kurds including nine KDP members, three PUK members, and one member of the persecuted Yezidi minority.
The number of the seats on offer in April 2020 however is being cut to 27 – three of which are to go to the minorities as quotas, including one seat for Yezidis, one for the Shabaks, and another for the Christians.
“The KDP is viewing [the disputed areas in Nineveh province] as being Kurdistani,” the KDP official said. “We do not want to miss even a single Kurdish vote.”
“If we run on separate lists, the Kurdish vote will disperse. As the KDP, we are ready to visit all the parties.”
Last month, three Yezidi parties formed a coalition for the upcoming provincial election.
Haidar Shaho, whose party the Ezidi Democratic Party is a member of the coalition, said they would join a Kurdistani list on the condition it meets the interests of the Yezidi community.
“We have formed a coalition of our own and the decision so far is that we run on our own list,” Shasho said. “We cannot separate ourselves from Kurdistan. So far no Kurdistani party has approached us asking to join a single list of Kurdistani parties.”
“If they asked us and we found out that joining them would be in the interest of the Yezidi, we will be ready to join them,” he added.
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