KIRKUK, Iraq - Banners and posters promoting Kurdish candidates running in the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections in the disputed province of Kirkuk have been torn up or thrown into the gutter, officials say.
Such acts of vandalism are more evident in the Kurdish areas of Kirkuk, they claim.
"We are suspicious. We are seriously suspicious about the tearing down of the candidates' posters in Constituency No.1," Ali Qalaiy, head of the PUK elections office in Kirkuk, told Rudaw earlier this week.
With Iraq’s newest electoral law, Kirkuk province is divided into three electoral districts or constituencies. The country as a whole is divided into 83 constituencies.
"It bears a serious question. I think part of the responsibility lies with the authorities of this city. The way the posters are torn down is more like revenge [against Kurds] because they are mostly removing the heads of the candidates," Qalaiy added.
Iraqi forces took control of Kirkuk on October 16, 2017 after driving out the Peshmerga who had held control of the province since 2014. Parties registered with the Iraqi election commission, however, have the right to run election campaigns without censure.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which won six of the 12 seats contested in the 2018 and 2014 election, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), blame local authorities for being negligent, considering the damage to the posters as an attempt to humiliate them.
The KDP, the largest Kurdish party in Iraq, boycotted the election in the province in May 2018, claiming the security and political situation in Kirkuk was unstable and that the city was under Iraqi “occupation” following the October 16 events.
This election, there are 13 seats up for grabs in Kirkuk – one of them reserved for the Christian minority.
A decree issued by the Supreme Judicial Council - dated September 9 and signed by Dr. Fayaq Zidan, head of the council- calls for punishment for anyone caught or involved in the damaging of the candidates' posters.
Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city where Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and other minorities like Christians live.
Kirkuk Operations command has already informed the security forces to arrest the perpetrators and those behind such acts. Until now, no one has been apprehended in connection to the acts.
Translation by Zhelwan Zeyad Wali
Video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
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