ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Political parties in the Kurdistan Region must move past wrangling over election results and towards greater challenges, such as restoring governance and legitimacy in the Region’s institutions, President Nechirvan Barzani said on Wednesday.
“The election is now over; we have carried it out, and we cannot continue to remain in the election environment and stand against each other. What awaits us is far bigger than what has passed,” Barzani said during the final panel of the MERI Forum 2024 in Erbil.
The Kurdistan Region’s president was calling on political parties to move past “the environment of elections” to form the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), warning that otherwise “we will have losses because the region is going through big changes.”
The Kurdistan Region held its long-overdue elections on October 20. The preliminary results were a landslide victory for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which garnered nearly twice as many votes as the runner-up Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The final results, released on Wednesday, showed that the KDP won 39 seats, the PUK 23 seats and the New Generation Movement rose to become the third-largest party in the Region with 15 seats.
"The subject of elections was an important subject for the Kurdistan Region," President Nechirvan Barzani said. "The delay of elections in the Kurdistan Region had a very bad effect."
Acknowledging that “several issues” occurred during the vote, President Barzani stressed that every democratic process comes with its issues but that the Kurdistan Region is “developing.”
“Imagine two large political parties in Erbil, in the same hour, campaigning for their respective parties,” Barzani recalled, as an example of the election’s success, calling it “among the most transparent elections done in the Kurdistan Region” since its inaugural vote in 1991.
Barzani said he is ready to call for government formation, adding, "I will make a serious effort as Kurdistan Region President to form the government as soon as possible."
The next government can only be formed through a coalition due to no party securing a majority. “It is important for the government to be formed as soon as possible, and the Kurdistan Region’s people await the government,” Barzani said.
Barzani placed emphasis on not allowing a “two administration” possibility to take place, referring to separate zones controlled by the rival KDP and PUK, stating, “We have left this stage behind, the stage of two administrations. We will not be two administrations but zero.”
Several parties criticized the vote as fraudulent and rigged. The Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal), Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), People’s Front (Baray Gal), and the National Stance Movement (Halwest) said they would release evidence of wrongdoing at a later date.
On Saturday, Komal announced that it would withdraw and not join the parliament. They won three seats.
Judge Omar Ahmed, the head of Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), during a Wednesday press conference, said that experts and party representatives had tested selected voting devices at random, adding that the claims “are all baseless talks.”
“This has been the best election since the year 1992,” he asserted.
IHEC said the vote counts are not conclusive, and a period for appealing the final tally will start the next day.
The polls saw a voter turnout of 72 percent, with over two million people across the Region casting their votes, according to IHEC.
Issues with Baghdad
President Barzani stressed that a “proper model” must be found to resolve outstanding issues with the federal government in Baghdad but that the resolution of such issues requires issues within the Kurdistan Region to be resolved beforehand.
"Let us begin to find a proper model to resolve issues with Baghdad together. But how do you resolve these issues? You must first discuss these issues inside your own house," Barzani said.
He criticized Baghdad’s treatment of the Kurdistan Region, saying the treatment was “very, very centralized” and was not based on a federal model.
"I told my brothers [in Baghdad] this - you do not care about the Kurdistan Region," President Barzani stated. "Your treatment is not only not federal, but is more central than central."
"Since 2003 until now, our talks [with Baghdad] have all been about the constitution, the constitution, but honestly, we do not see [a change]," Barzani lamented.
But the elections, Barzani said, have "set a great precedent, a new precedent for resolving issues with Baghdad.”
Baghdad and Erbil have been at loggerheads on several issues, including the Kurdistan Region’s share in the federal budget, the salaries of civil servants, and the export of Kurdish oil through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.
Erbil has repeatedly accused Baghdad of not making regular payments of its share of federal funds. Last year, Iraq passed a three-year budget in which the Kurdistan Region's share is 12.6 percent. Baghdad has claimed it has fully implemented its financial obligations to the KRG, including through loans to assist the Region in paying the salaries of its civil servants. Erbil’s share was increased to 14 percent for 2024.
Barzani stressed that issues with Baghdad could be resolved “in the framework of Iraq,” adding that Erbil desires to resolve the issues, and the issues could be resolved if Baghdad treated the problems with a higher degree of seriousness.
"If Iraqi authorities since day one recognized the Kurdish matter as a serious one, none of these issues would have happened," said Barzani.
Calling for finding a model that would work for the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, Barzani said, "I am not putting all the blame on Baghdad or on the [Kurdistan] Region, but I believe that the future of this country is in finding a model so both of us can work together."
President Barzani said that he had a tripartite meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani and the head of Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, Faiq Zidan, on the issue of salaries of the Kurdistan Region's civil servants.
Regional tensions
Barzani stressed that Iraq and the Kurdistan Region must stay “far from the fire that now exists in the region,” referring to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip and its escalating tensions with Lebanon.
“Our efforts should all go into Iraq, not falling into this conflict,” he said. “All political fronts in Iraq must help the prime minister, for it is unacceptable for Iraq to involve itself in this war.”
He reiterated that Iraq has “no interest” in involving itself in the conflict.
Israel has launched an all-out war against the Palestinian Hamas movement in retaliation to the group carrying out an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The deadly war has spilled over to neighboring Lebanon, where its Hezbollah movement has fired missiles and used explosive-laden drones to attack Israeli targets.
Iraq is at the “forefront” of regional countries defending against Israeli aggressions, an advisor to the prime minister said in October, and Baghdad has sent several rounds of aid to the Gaza Strip. Pro-Iran Iraqi militia groups have launched numerous rocket and drone attacks against Israel.
Last year, President Barzani said that Iraq must “tread carefully” as involvement in the Israel-Gaza war would only increase the sufferings of the country, calling instead for a ceasefire and a two-state solution.
Kurdish-Turkish talks
Touching on talks of a new peace deal between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Barzani said, “It would be our pleasure to see this process have a result.”
"I believe the solution of these issues will not only help Turkey but the region," Barzani added.
Reports of a renewed drive for peace began earlier this month with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, who shook hands with members of the DEM Party in the legislature. Bahceli also proposed inviting jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to address the Turkish parliament and declare the dissolution of his armed group.
In a further step, the government decided to allow Ocalan to meet his family, ending more than four years of isolation. After the meeting, Ocalan's nephew and DEM Party lawmaker Omer Ocalan shared on X on Thursday morning a message from his uncle that he can transition the violence into a political process.
An estimated 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state.
A short-lived peace process in 2013 granted Kurds some rights, but the talks collapsed in 2015, and the conflict spread into the Kurdistan Region and northeast Syria (Rojava).
Hopes for peace took a blow last week when a Turkish aerospace facility in Ankara’s Kahramankazan district was attacked, leaving five people dead and 22 others injured. Two attackers were “neutralized,” and Ankara blamed the PKK. Turkey uses the term “neutralize” to describe adversaries who have been captured, wounded, or killed.
Two days after the attack, the PKK claimed responsibility for the attack, stating the assault “was carried out by an independent team of the Immortal Battalion.”
"The PKK is a big problem, not just for Turkey but for us too. The PKK does not consider or respect the Region's institutions," stated President Barzani.
"What happened in Ankara, this terrorist act, was for nothing but for ruining these efforts and talks ... this act had great consequences," he lamented. “The PKK should let go of its acts now.”
The MERI forum, themed “Towards Good Governance & Prosperity,” brought together global and regional diplomats, policymakers, and intellectuals to discuss Iraq and Middle Eastern challenges.
This year’s agenda includes in-depth discussions on evolving global and regional power dynamics, US policies in the Middle East, peace efforts in the Levant, Iraq’s regional role, addressing Iraq’s internal fragility, and exploring international models for financial reform. Other key topics include Iraq’s political economy, institutionalizing center-periphery relations, and promoting ethno-religious coexistence.
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