ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An official from the Syrian regime government has deemed elections by the authorities of the Kurdish enclave in northern Syria, or Rojava, as “illegal.” And Kurdish National Council (KNC, ENKS) has decided to boycott the looming elections describing them as “illegitimate.”
“The Syrian government has no connections to these elections in which its dates have been set by [the Rojava self-government]. And according to the Syrian constitutions, they are illegal,” Abdulqader Azuz, an advisor to the Syria’s Council of Ministries told Rudaw.
The founding council of the Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria announced last week that they set September 22 as the day for communnal elections, and November 3 for local elections in villages, municipalities, cantons, and towns. The council also declared that elections for the Northern Syria Democratic parliament will take place on January 1, 2018.
“It will no way be acknowledged by the Syrian government,” Azuz said.
Azuz pointed out that “except for the Syrian government which wields constitutional authority, no one or party is allowed to issue new laws.”
In late December, the Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria was declared by the founding members of the self-declared Kurdish enclave in northern Syria.
“These measures are being taken and run unilaterally by the Kurdish militia who have imposed themselves on the area, the Kurdish nation and other national components in Hasakah and north Syria through the use of force,” Azuz said, referencing the Kurdish-led Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Nuri Brimo, a Kurdish National Council (KNC or ENKS) Central Committee member told Rudaw they were going to refrain from taking part in the “illegitimate” elections.
He said the PYD imposed itself on Rojava through “the use of force.”
“As the parties inside the Kurdish National Council in Syria, we will not take part in the elections at all because they are illegitimate as the PYD is imposing itself through the use of force on the people of the West Kurdistan,” he added.
Through holding these elections, Brimo noted, “the PYD wants to legitimize the imposition.”
Brimo questioned the timing of the elections given the thousands of people displaced to Rojava, as Afrin has been besieged by the Free Syrian Army, backed by Turkey.
“How come elections take place while thousands of people have been displaced and Afrin besieged?” he asked.
He also noted that the number of Arab internally displaced persons (IDPs) has increased in Afrin.
But Nasaldin Ibrahim, secretary of the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (KDPS) explained Arab IDPs under their controlled territories in Rojava, will not be allowed to cast a vote in the upcoming elections.
“The resident Arabs, or those who have been brought in to the federal region due to political decrees, will have no rights to take part in local or regional elections, but only communal elections to administrate the villages where they inhabit,” Ibrahim explained.
A political pundit from Rojava labelled the elections as significant and believes they mark a move towards confederalism.
Hussein Omer, living in Germany, said: “The timeframes between the elections lasts less than six months. This is evidence that Rojava with lots of faith is taking speeding steps towards confederalism, as it has established strong infrastructure.”
He believed this newly set plan would better deliver services to the area in terms of services, administration, social and economic aspects. It would also pave the way to employ more employees and set up more institutions.
Shahba and Gire Spi will be included in the new federalism. Therefore, Rojava will stretch its borders from Tigris to east Afrin and be connected to Turkish Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Region, he said.
“These artificial boundaries will easily be removed and ended in the future,” he asserted.
Besides the declarations of the elections by Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria, the council simultaneously passed four declarations with respect to its management system of Rojava.
According to bills passed by the council, Rojava consists of three regions: Afrin in the west, Euphrates in the centre, and Jazira in the east.
The first point reads that 60 percent of representatives in the national parliament will be elected directly by voters through ballot boxes. The other 40 percent of the parliament’s seats will be reserved for minorities via a quota system.
There must also be equal participation of men and women, the declaration reads. Each member of the parliament and the councils is entitled to run for elections for two terms.
Additionally, the Afrin region includes Afrin canton and Shahba canton including Manbij town. The Euphrates region consists of Kobane canton and Girespi. The last region, Jazira includes Qamishli and Hasakah.
The Syrian government official, Azuz, slammed the decisions to turn Rojava into three federal regions
“These measures are temporary. With the end of the crisis in Syria, these things will also end, because that time the government’s prior job is to combating and ultimately eliminating terror,” said Azuz.
Syria has been embroiled in a six-year-long civil war that has killed at least 400,000 people according to the United Nations. However, Kurdish and Syrian regime forces have largely avoided clashes.
In December 2016, the Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria was declared by the founding members of the self-declared Kurdish enclave in northern Syria. This move was then also rejected by the Syrian government.
The Kurdish authorities also announced they had dropped the word Rojava, a Kurdish word for Syrian Kurdistan, from the official name of the federation of northern Syria.
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