ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Change Movement (Gorran), a Kurdish opposition party, has decided to hold internal elections across its party organs following a meeting of its National Assembly on Saturday. Gorran, which performed poorly in the September 30 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election according to preliminary results, apologized to its voters and vowed to review policy and strategy. “From the Change Movement, we are thanking the people of Kurdistan and the Change Movement voters who cast a ballot during the election,” a statement from the National Assembly read. “We apologize to Change Movement voters for any shortcomings presented by us which reduced the Change Movement's votes.” Once official results are published by the election commission, the party will rule on whether to accept or reject them and whether it will boycott the coming parliament, the statement said. “All the options are open before Gorran,” it said. The party will soon hold its national conference to “review and assess the performance of the Change Movement, its constitution, and lay out its future plans, and to also hold internal elections across all the party organs.” Gorran’s National Assembly further accused the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of election fraud, and claimed the low turnout on September 30 was the result of apathy born of poor governance. “The preliminary results of the Kurdistan Parliament and the low turnout of voters are explicit evidence of the anger of the people of Kurdistan at the Kurdistan Region authorities and their way of governing and at the uncertain situation gripping the people. It is also a gesture of the disappointment of voters in the election process.” The statement added “all the rigging and fraud and violations committed by the PUK and the KDP negatively reflected on the election and the political process and the reputation of our Region.” Gorran first made a shock appearance in Kurdish politics in 2009 emerging as the second biggest party in the Kurdistan Region parliament. Its share of the vote has since been in decline, particularly since the death of its leader and founder Nawshirwan Mustafa.
