Lahur Talabany to travel abroad until after elections: PUK politburo

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The co-chair of Sulaimani’s ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Lahur Talabany, is to “temporarily” travel abroad in three days, the politburo said in a new set of decisions that were submitted to Rudaw on Wednesday evening.

The PUK said Lahur Talabany is “to travel outside of Iraq within three days, until two weeks after the announcement of the elections results,” saying his co-chair Bafel Talabani will “direct security forces to assure his safety until he travels.”

Earlier this month, scores of people gathered in front of Lahur Talabany’s house amid news of attempts to drive him out of the Kurdistan Region following a power struggle within the PUK. 

“I have decided to face this plot head on and will not leave my nation until my last breath,” he said at the time.

A warrant was also issued for his arrest, but he was granted bail last week.

In a statement sent to Rudaw on Wednesday, Lahur Talabany said the new decisions are “far from reality,” claiming he has not reached any agreement with the politburo on the decisions.

In early July, Bafel Talabani and his brother, Qubad Talabani, dismissed the heads of the PUK’s intelligence agency and counter-terrorism units, replacing officials who were close to Lahur Talabany with others loyal to Bafel Talabani.

On July 20, Lahur Talabany said that he had “temporarily” handed over power to his rival co-chair and cousin Bafel Talabani on the condition of the formation of a committee “to investigate and follow up on all the baseless allegations and propaganda in some media and social media that were being published to mislead” after rumors of a power struggle in the party.

Talabany is to announce his support for the Kurdistan Coalition in the upcoming elections, the politburo added. 

The Kurdistan Coalition is an election alliance between Gorran and the PUK that was announced in early May to run in Iraq’s October parliamentary elections. Lahur Talabany was the head of the alliance.

He later stepped down from his position and was replaced by Qubad Talabani late last month.

Iraq will hold elections on October 10, ahead of schedule. Early elections were one of the demands of protesters who took to the streets in October 2019 across central and southern Iraq.

There were initial attempts to form a broad Kurdish coalition for the elections, but the parties failed to find common ground and, apart from the PUK and Gorran alliance, the other parties will contest the vote independently.