In a statement titled “For Kirkuk,” 13 of the province’s Kurdish parties, most notably the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), called on all the Kurdish parties to unite for a broad coalition for December’s provincial council elections, urging them to not “endanger Kirkuk’s future through dispersion and separate blocs.”
The PUK said they appreciated the parties “patriotic” stance and that they shared the same beliefs regarding Kirkuk and the elections, adding that they have also made initiatives for a joint Kurdish coalition in recent times.
“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,” read the statement from the PUK.
The Kurdistan Region’s other ruling party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), is yet to comment on the proposal of the 13 parties.
Mohammed Khurshid, a KDP official in Kirkuk, told Rudaw prior to the publication of the proposal that the party was in talks with several other parties to form a coalition, stressing that they will not be part of a bloc with the PUK.
The parties have less than a week to register their coalitions for the provincial council elections.
Iraq’s provincial councils were dissolved in 2019, in response to the demands of the Tishreen protesters who believed the system was a failure and did not achieve anything apart from enabling corruption.
The country is set to reactivate the councils and hold new provincial council elections on December 18, which would mark the first time the vote has been held since 2013. Kirkuk has not held provincial council elections since 2005.
Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen. The city was under joint administration before 2014, when Kurds took full control after Iraqi forces withdrew in the face of the Islamic State (ISIS) group. Kurds held the city until October 16, 2017, when Iraqi forces retook control and expelled Kurdish security forces following the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independence referendum.
