Such acts of vandalism are more evident in the Kurdish areas of Kirkuk, where Kurdish parties are running for office under direct Iraqi rule for the first time since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The issue is not limited to Kirkuk, however. It has occurred in other cities of Iraq including the capital Baghdad and the holy city of Najaf.
Iraqi forces who took control of Kirkuk on October 16 after driving out the Peshmerga have already banned the Kurdish flag. Parties registered with the Iraqi election commission, however, have the right to run election campaigns without censure.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which won six of the 12 seats contested in the last election in 2014, launched its official campaign in the city of Kirkuk earlier this week. Some of the party’s posters have been affected.
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Photo: Rudaw
“Tearing down the [election] posters is an uncivilized act,” Dilan Ghafour, a female PUK candidate, told Rudaw.
“If it is found that a particular individual or party is behind this, it shows how undemocratic the individual or the party is.”
She called on the authorities to find and punish those responsible.
Jwan Husen, the top candidate for the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) in Kirkuk, said some voters may in fact be sending parties a message.
“The people are dissatisfied with the current situation, be it because of politics, services, or it could be that they are angry at a given party or given ethnicity,” she said.
Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city where Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and other minorities like Christians live.
“They cannot express this anger publicly, so they are left with the option of tearing down the posters,” Husen added.
There are 13 seats for grabs in Kirkuk – one of them reserved for the Christian minority.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the largest Kurdish party in Iraq, has decided to boycott the election in the province, claiming the security and political situation in Kirkuk is unstable and that the city is under Iraqi “occupation” following the October 16 events.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a Shiite Arab, appointed a Sunni Arab governor to replacing the Kurdish one in October.
Acting governor Rakan Saeed, who has been accused by some Kurdish parties of launching a new wave of Arabization in Kirkuk, is one of the candidates running for the Iraqi election on an Arab list.
Kurdish people in Kirkuk are angry with all parties, including the Kurdish ones, but many say they will still cast their vote to preserve Kurdish representation.
Ali Karam, who is in his late 50s, has experienced Arab rule of the city both under the former Iraqi regime which tried to change the demographics of the city, and also post-invasion Iraq.
“People have shed blood for the last 50 years with the aim of achieving freedom, and pride. But now all that [struggle] is gone,” he said, lamenting the Kurds’ loss of control.
“But the reason why I vote is I am a Kurd, that I do not want us to be further oppressed. At least when they violate our rights, there will be someone who can stand for us,” he added.
