ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The spokesperson of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) parliamentary bloc on Tuesday blamed the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and other parties for stalling and causing the delay of the upcoming elections.
“We have compromised and accepted things we did not believe in,” said Peshawa Hawramani, the spokesperson of the KDP bloc in the Kurdistan Parliament, presenting a document showcasing 18 KDP initiatives which were not met with a satisfactory response from the PUK and other parties.
“Their only goal is not to hold elections, even if they bring 10 points to work on tomorrow and we accept all of them, they will return with new ones [and stall],” he added.
According to Hawramani, the extension of the life of the parliament was not the KDP’s plan but they were forced to do so with PUK, Gorran and minorities to avoid the existence of a “legal gap” in the Kurdistan Region.
“This was despite our will, but we were forced to do it, in order to finish all of our preparations,” he said.
Kurdistan parliamentarians voted in October to extend the term of the parliament by another year due to a disagreement between the parties over the electoral law and the electoral commission.
In March, Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Region designated November 18, as the date of the parliamentary elections, a year later than its original date.
Hawramani showed instances in which the KDP bloc and politburo initiated solutions to reactivate the electoral commission and pass the election law, but said they were met with excuses by the PUK and its members boycotting meetings.
“Today we want to tell everyone that the PUK has created obstacles and excuses after every meeting we had, changed their opinion or created excuses to not attend meetings,” Hawramani said.
The Kurdistan Parliament consists of 111 seats, with 11 of them dedicated to minorities under a quota system. Turkmens have five seats, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs have five, and Armenians have one. Some political parties have claimed that these seats are exploited by the KDP, which is accused of directing security forces to vote for the minority candidates it favors. The KDP has denied the claims.
Hawramani denied that the issue of the minorities is part of the dispute between the KDP and PUK, saying that it is not up to the parties to decide for them.
“They [minorities] have to decide this and we have to respect whatever they decide,” the speaker stated.
“There is a form of hopelessness, that is leading to elections not being held, and the PUK is the one to blame”, he added.
The KDP and PUK have an uneasy relationship. Despite working together in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), they have established control over separate parts of the Region, often referred to as the “Yellow Zone” in Erbil and Duhok where KDP dominates, and the “Green Zone“ where PUK controls Sulaimani and Halabja.
