There is reportedly an overwhelming consensus within the KDP’s highest executive body that the party should not participate in the next Iraqi parliamentary elections. The party’s leader Masoud Barzani himself has apparently endorsed this position.
“The KDP is having serious discussions at the moment as to whether it should take part in the next Iraqi elections. Currently, there is a dominant and strong position within the KDP which is against anymore participation in Iraqi elections,” Jaafar Imniki, a KDP politburo member told Rudaw.
Rudaw has learned that the KDP also does not want to fill the currently vacant ministerial positions in Baghdad that are allocated to the party as part of a quota system, including the position of the country’s finance minister, nor does it intend to take on other positions in the central government.
In a recent meeting of the KDP’s executive body, party members discussed relations with Baghdad and decided they would seek to “re-establish relations” with the central government, while noting that the old systems and relationships no longer existed.
The desire to distance itself from Baghdad and boycott the next Iraqi parliamentary elections is the KDP’s position alone. The PUK has argued that there are no good reasons to boycott the elections.
“We certainly will and should take part in Iraqi elections in so far as we are a part of the state of Iraq. We shouldn’t sideline ourselves by ourselves. Moreover, there are currently efforts to resolve the problems between the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad,” PUK’s leadership member Arez Abdullah told Rudaw.
A senior Iraqi MP from the ruling Islamic Dawa Party, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, described the reports of the intended boycott as “disappointing.”
“If the brothers from the Kurdistan Democratic Party make the decision to boycott the election, boycott the political process, boycott the government, or the council of representatives, this will be sad news, and in fact disappointing.”
“A boycott of the election is not right, and this might be an effort from some of the brothers to put pressure on Baghdad,” said Rubaie. “But pressuring Baghdad may not bear results because Baghdad is not one decision, there are a number of decisions. The great nation of Kurdistan has many friends in Baghdad and Iraq.”
He said that politicians in Baghdad are trying to form a political majority and if the KDP’s policies are in line with the majority, “it will achieve everything it wants – all the rights of the Kurdish nation.”
Rubaie added that the mainstream view from all parties, including Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties, is to cancel the quota system, and warned that the KDP cannot make unilateral decisions on behalf of all Kurds.
“The Kurdistan Democratic Party, despite our belief in the right of the Kurdish nation for self-determination, it cannot make decisions on its own regarding the fate of Kurdistan nation. It has partners in Kurdistan and Iraq as well. Therefore there should be an agreement on steps that the brothers in the Kurdistan Democratic Party would take.”
