4 Kurdish parties 'insist' on election re-do after McGurk meeting

Rudaw
SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – Four Kurdish opposition parties told Brett McGurk in Sulaimani on Tuesday that they remain resolute in rejecting Iraq's recent parliamentary election results and calling for a revote. 

"We are united in our stance as the four parties, and we reject the results and the process," Hoshyar Omer, the coordinator for Gorran's diplomatic relations department, told reporters after the meeting. "We insist on the results being annulled, and we have filed a complaint for a re-do of elections."

McGurk, the US president's special envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, is discussing formation of the next Iraqi and Kudistan regional governments. He met with officials from Gorran, Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), Coalition for Justice and Democracy (CDJ), and Komal — four of the six parties that have said they may boycott Baghdad after widespread voter fraud in the May 12 election.


Omer said that the Americans have taken their complaints seriously, and that they have given the parties the liberty to decide whether to participate or boycott Iraqi elections. 


It was expected for McGurk try to convince them to participate in the Iraqi political process. 

 
Brett McGurk meeting with officials from Gorran, Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), Coalition for Justice and Democracy (CDJ), and Komal. Photo: Rudaw

The Kurdistan Region also will hold its parliamentary election on September 30.

"They [the US] said that they will give all the support for these elections to succeed," added Omer, referring the Kurdistan's upcoming vote. "We insist on our position and won't compromise on the votes of the people of Kurdistan."

They met at Gorran’s headquarters in Sulaimani. 

McGurk began his day in Sulaimani with a visit with CDJ leader Barham Salih.


Barham Salih and Brett McGurk met in Sulaimani Tuesday. Photo: CDJ/Twitter

McGurk also met with Kosrat Rasul, the acting leader of PUK until the party holds its next congress.

 

“Rasul and McGurk emphasized that Kurds should work as one team with one shared agenda in order to achieve their constitutional and ethnical rights," read a statement from Rasul's website.

 

Kosrat Rasul (left) meets with US SPE Brett McGurk in Sulaimani on May 22, 2018. Photo: Rasul FB

 

The dissenting parties’ complaints center on the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s electoral success in its historical strongholds of Sulaimani and Kirkuk provinces. In all provinces, the PUK won 18 seats, Gorran 5, New Generation 4, Komal 2, CDJ 2, and KIU 2.

 

McGurk also met with other PUK officials – head of the party’s intelligence agency Lahur Talabany and Bafel Talabani, the eldest son of the founder of the party who holds no official position.


First posted at 3 p.m.