SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – Kurdistan’s largest opposition party has called for the people of the Kurdistan Region to go on “nationwide strike” to put pressure on the Kurdish government, a senior Gorran official said on Wednesday following the party’s decision to withdraw from the KRG cabinet, and the resignation of its speaker in parliament.
The call for strike comes after three consecutive days of sometimes deadly protests in some cities in the provinces of Sulaimani and Halabja, otherwise called the Green Zone, the stronghold of Gorran and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
“We call on all the people of Kurdistan to go on nationwide strike, boycott and take similar measures so that we put a large amount of pressure on this government,” Jamal Haji Mohammed, the head of Gorran’s National Assembly told his party media, KNN.
The decision to withdraw from the government came after a meeting of Gorran’s National Assembly.
Mohammed said his message to the Kurdistan Regional Government is to learn from the downfall of other rulers in the country.
Sarhang Faraj, a Gorran official, told Rudaw that the decision to withdraw was right because “people are tired” of the current cabinet.
Gorran, Kurdistan’s second-largest party with 23 seats is an offshoot of the PUK. It became the first party to introduce parliamentary opposition in the Kurdistan Region in 2009, but it fell in with the KRG coalition government following the 2013 general elections.
Nawshirwan Mustafa, Gorran or the Change Movement’s founder died in May. When they decided to join the KRG, he vowed there will be “four years of peace,” an indication that they would not urge the people to stage protests against the government.
Tensions between Gorran and the dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) reached its boiling level in October 2015 when deadly protests hit many cities and towns in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces. The KDP accused Gorran of orchestrating the protests, but Gorran denied it.
The KDP shut down parliament for two years and sacked Gorran ministers including those from the ministries of Peshmerga and Finances.
The term for current Kurdish MPs and government officials expired on November 1, but the parliament had voted to extend it for eight months in late-October after the elections were postponed mainly because of military tensions between the Iraqi and Kurdish governments following the Kurdistan Region’s vote on independence.
Kanaan Ismael, a member of Gorran’s General Assembly, told Rudaw on Wednesday that they decided to withdraw from the KRG after fulfilling the four years of peace.
“Now strategy No. 1 for Gorran Movement is to prepare for free and clean elections,” he said.
The KRG on Monday asked the Kurdish parliament to set a date for the parliamentary and presidential elections within three months.
Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) which has six seats in the 111-seat parliament announced in a joint statement with Gorran that they too will withdraw from the Kurdish government.
They are expected to present their resignation letter to the KRG in the next few days.
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