Kurdish woman retains seat in UK House of Commons

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Feryal Clark, a woman of Kurdish origin, secured her seat in the UK House of Commons for a second term, as her party, Labour, swept to a landslide general election victory, according to preliminary results.

Clark, 45, was born and raised in Britain. Her parents are originally from the city of Malatya in southeastern Turkey. Clark was Labour’s candidate for London’s Enfield North constituency.

In the vote, Clark garnered 21,368 votes, approximately 49.1 percent of the total votes in her constituency, besting the Conservative candidate Chris Dey, who won 19.8 percent. 

In Thursday’s elections, Clark’s Labour party scored a massive win, ending 14 years of Conservative ruling. Labour won 412 seats in the House of Commons, a 210-seat increase from the 2019 elections, while the conservatives won 121 seats.

"The Labour Party has won this general election, and I have called Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory," Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said early on Friday, admitting defeat.

Sunak said the results were “sobering,” adding that he took the responsibility for the defeat.

Despite the Conservatives’ loss, Sunak retained his seat in the legislature.

Starmer, Labour’s leader, is expected to become the next prime minister of the UK. 

With 412 seats, Labour secured an absolute majority in the 650-seat parliament. The center-left party regained power for the first time since 2010, when former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron triumphed over Labour’s Gordon Brown.

Yasmin al-Atroshi, a Kurdish woman and a Conservative candidate who was also running for parliament in Thursday’s vote, failed to garner enough votes to secure a seat.

Atroshi garnered 16.2 percent of the votes in the Warrington North constituency, falling behind Labour’s Charlotte Nichols, who won 46.8 percent and Reform UK’s Trevor Nichols, who won 23.8 percent.

In the last UK election held in 2019, two Kurds were able to secure parliamentary seats: Feryal Clark and Nadhim Zahawi. 

Zahawi, of Faili Kurdish descent, went on to hold several senior government positions, including Minister of State for Education, Minister of Finance, Minister of Equality, Minister of Internal Relations, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Updated at 3:57 pm