"The reason behind that suggestion is that we want the national office [of the Independent High Electoral Commission] to come and end the conflict between the components,” Rakan al-Jabouri told Rudaw’s Shahyan Tahseen in an interview on September 14 in Kirkuk.
Turkmen and Arab politicians have called for a week-long delay. One of their concerns was the impartiality of the election office in Kirkuk where they claimed Kurdish staff were stacking the vote in favour of their fellow Kurds.
Jabouri said the suspicions were to be expected: “If the head of the office were Kurdish, others would be suspicious and the same is true if it were Turkmen or Arab."
He said the electoral commission has discussed their request, “but no decision has been made."
Oil rich Kirkuk is home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen and lies within the disputed areas claimed by both the federal Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Jabouri, an Arab, was named governor by Baghdad to replace his Kurdish predecessor who was sacked after the Kurdistan independence referendum in 2017.
In 2018, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) won six seats in the Iraqi parliament in an election that some regarded as rigged, a charge denied by the PUK.
"Nobody is in denial that what happened in the 2018 elections was a catastrophe, including fraud and interference in the electronic [devices]. It is proven. So in fact, in Kirkuk, we need an election that will reflect its reality," Jabouri said.
The PUK, running in the election as part of the Kurdistan Coalition with Gorran, is hoping to keep its strong representation in Kirkuk. Launching their campaign in Kirkuk earlier this month, head of the coalition Qubad Talabani repeated a common PUK slogan: “Kirkuk is the Jerusalem of Kurdistan.”
"So long as there is a living Kurd, Kirkuk will remain a Kurdish city," he told a crowd of supporters.
Bafel Talabani, co-leader of the PUK, visited Kirkuk on Sunday and used similar language, saying Kirkuk is their “red line.”
A Turkmen candidate disputed Kurdish claims over Kirkuk.
"Kirkuk is Turkmen and we won't compromise on that," Mardin Tahsin, a candidate for the Turkmen Front, said during Rudaw’s special election programme Ranj Circle on Sunday.
He said that Turkmens lived in Kirkuk for thousands of years before the arrival of the Ottoman Empire.
Shakhawan Abdullah, a candidate for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), accused the Turkmen Front of working for a foreign power. "They are here with the money and the funds they receive from Turkey," he said.
Tahsin denied the accusation, saying they have "social, cultural and familial relations with Turkey, nothing more than that” and pointed out that the Kurdistan Region also enjoys good ties, especially financial, with Turkey.
