Diaspora decry voter exclusion in Kurdistan Region elections

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Over two million people from the Kurdistan Region voted in Sunday’s long-overdue parliamentary elections, while some residing outside the country decried missing a chance to cast a ballot.

1,200 polling stations across the region and some Iraqi cities opened on Sunday to 2.7 million registered to vote. The polls closed on the same day, with a "72 percent voter turnout,” according to the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).

In July, the IHEC said for citizens to vote in the Kurdistan Region's parliamentary election, they would be required to be physically present at designated polling stations with their biometric identification cards.
 
“It is totally ridiculous that citizens who are not physically present inside Kurdistan are not allowed to vote,” Hiran Omar, a Sulaimani native who recently moved to Europe because he was unsatisfied with employment opportunities in the Kurdistan Region and in Iraq told Rudaw English. 
 
“We live in the AI era; we can easily find a mechanism to allow us to vote, too,” Omar added.
 
While outside the Region for this vote, Omar said he has voted in previous Iraqi and Kurdistan elections, including the independence referendum in 2017.
 
“Many issues matter to me in Kurdistan,” he said. “Jurisdiction and legislation are the foundation of any successful state.” 

Omar noted that “a strong government can lead Kurdistan in the right direction.”

Mohammed A. Salih, a non-resident senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, an American think tank based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, believes the reason is not entirely a lack of technical capacities but also a lack of political incentives.

He expressed that not facilitating a process for voting while abroad was likely political “due to the ruling parties' concerns that the majority of the votes cast outside the Kurdistan Region might go to their rivals as the same patronage networks and power relations cannot be easily established outside of the Kurdistan Region.”
 
“Not including the Kurdistan Region's diaspora in the elections is certainly a shortcoming that needs to be addressed. There are tens of thousands of citizens of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq who live abroad and should be able to have a say in running Kurdistan's internal affairs,” he said.
 
Years of conflict, economic hardships, and political instability have pushed many residents of the Region to migrate to the West, with significant diaspora communities in several European nations.
 
“A large number of Kurdish people live outside of Iraq, in the United States or in Europe, and it’s only fair that they have the right to participate in elections,” said Firmesk Rahim, who is from Kalar in the Kurdistan Region’s Garmiyan, “I really hope this becomes a reality in the future.” 
 
Although miles away from the region, many are still deeply connected and concerned about the political trajectory of the semi-autonomous region, which has witnessed ups and downs in recent years.
 
“It's unfortunate, I truly value the chance to vote. While we're far from home, we remain deeply connected to and concerned about the situation there,” Rahim said.
 
While some countries make active efforts to include eligible voters abroad, Salih acknowledged the logistical challenges the IHEC and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) - with 14 offices abroad - would face despite the electronic voting system and biometric upgrades.
 
“While it cannot be held in every country where Iraqi Kurds live, elections could at least take place in countries with large concentrations of Kurds such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden,” he wagered.
 
However, Salih said there “are no signs of this happening anytime soon.”
 
“This is related to political dynamics inside Kurdistan and the degree of influence that those in favor of this happening could have in the upcoming Kurdistan Parliament,” he said. “This is something that needs to be enshrined in the election law.”
 
Even defining voter eligibility for elections in the Kurdistan Region needs further political debate and, ultimately, legal backing, according to Salih.
 
“This depends on the political equation inside Kurdistan,” he said, “and whether those who are in favor of such a measure can muster a parliamentary majority to get such a provision included in the electoral law, either as an amendment or if/when a new electoral law is legislated.”
 
Noor Matti is an Assyrian from the Kurdistan Region who has lived in Erbil since 2008 for most of his adult life, working in media. He currently lives in the United States. 
 
“The KRG elections have never been held outside of Iraq because the KRG does not have the legal right, so it was never a question if it was going to happen or not,” he said, noting that from 2004 to 2018 outside-the-country voting was permitted in federal elections.
 
The Kurdistan Region’s election took place two years after its originally scheduled date. A total of 1,191 candidates competed for the 100-seat legislature, downsized from 111 seats following a major Iraqi federal court ruling in February. 
 
In previous elections, observers, parties, and candidates have filed grievances or complaints with the election commission, which need to be resolved before a new parliament and cabinet can be formed to run the Region’s affairs.
 
“Equally important [to campaign platforms] is the formation of the new government after the elections. I hope that the new cabinet is established quickly and fairly, with a focus on effectively serving the public,” Rahim noted.
 
Relations between the federal government and the KRG affect the latter’s budget share, economy, and stability in day-to-day life.
 
“I hope to see greater stability and unity in Kurdistan, with a new government that represents the entire region equally,” Rahim added. “Addressing key issues such as oil exports and the relationship between Erbil and Baghdad is crucial, as these factors are essential for ensuring Kurdistan's economic stability.”
 
For his part, Matti said he hopes the KRG prioritizes families, the youth, employment, and services: “First is the economy, specifically job generation for young people. The second would be basic services such as electricity and water. They need to be improved so that people don’t continue to immigrate.”
 
Omer said he is optimistic for the Kurdistan Region despite the “disappointment that people are about to get” after the sixth parliamentary election in its short history.
 
“I am positive that things will get better in Kurdistan,” he added, “and there are many good people with brilliant minds and skills who will work to improve the situation of Kurdistan”
 
While admittedly still “obsessed” with election processes, Matti expressed that many people over the past 20 years have become increasingly apathetic with the results of the votes in Iraq and the Region.
 
“We still keep an eye on the elections, but we simply don’t care anymore because based on everything we see, the results have been decided already and will not be any different from previous election results,” Matti said. 
 
The Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections, which have been delayed multiple times, were carried out on October 20.

Some 1,191 candidates contested the 100-seat Kurdistan parliament - 823 men and 368 women, including 38 candidates for five minority-quota seats.
 
Early unofficial results from the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections show no significant change in the power dynamics in the Region, with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leading. 

IHEC stated during a presser that the preliminary results will be announced on Monday.