Iraq
Dilshad Hasari, head of the Kirkuk Committee of the Kurdistan Communist Party (left) and Rawand Mala Mahmood, head of the PUK in Kirkuk on August 5, 2023. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Communist Party on Saturday announced that they will join forces for the upcoming provincial elections in Kirkuk province and invited other parties to form a unified Kurdish front.
“We want to give the good news to the residents of Kirkuk and the people of Kurdistan that we and the Kurdistan Communist Party have sealed an alliance to participate in the Kirkuk provincial council elections under one bloc,” Rawand Mala Mahmood, head of the PUK in Kirkuk, told journalists during a press conference in the disputed city.
Mahmood said the goal of the alliance is to consolidate the Kurdish vote and urged other Kurdish political parties to join with them. “Our doors and the ones of the Communist Party are open for discussion, so we can make the voice of Kurds louder in the future,” he said.
Oil-rich Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic province home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen with a history of tensions between the groups. It was under joint administration before 2014 when Kurds took full control after Iraqi forces withdrew in the face of the Islamic State (ISIS) group. Iraqi forces retook the province on October 16, 2017 and expelled Kurdish security forces following the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independence referendum.
Kirkuk has not held provincial council elections since 2005. Elections across Iraq, excluding the provinces of the Kurdistan Region, are scheduled for December 18.
A week ago, the PUK announced its willingness to join with other parties after 13 Kurdish parties proposed a united front. “For the sake of Kirkuk and Kirkukis, we consider the announcement of those parties a patriotic stance and reaffirm our willingness for a single bloc. We believe Kurds united can guarantee all of our nation’s rights,” the PUK said at the time.
The Communist Party reiterated the call for unity on Saturday. “We emphasize our call for all the Kurdistani parties in Kirkuk to join us in this bloc,” said Dilshad Hasari, head of the Kirkuk Committee of the Kurdistan Communist Party.
Sunday is the deadline for coalitions to register for the provincial election so there is little time for parties to respond to this call.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) appears to have ruled out working with its longtime rival. Last week, Mohammed Khurshid, a KDP official in Kirkuk, told Rudaw that the party was in talks with several other parties to form a coalition, but that they will not be part of a bloc with the PUK.
PUK’s Mahmood said they are willing to work with KDP. “Regarding the Kurdistan Democratic Party, we do not have any bad statements or thoughts about them. Our doors are open to them to participate together under one bloc,” he said.
Relations between the KDP and PUK are tense as they disagree over several issues, including Kurdistan Region elections and finances.
Iraq’s provincial councils were dissolved in 2019, in response to demands by the Tishreen protesters who criticized the system for its failures and for enabling corruption. Provincial elections were last held in 2013, without Kirkuk.
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