Halwest removes two candidates over alleged links to PUK

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The opposition National Stance Movement (Halwest) on Wednesday said it removed two candidates from its electoral list in Sulaimani, accusing them of contacting the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and attempting to switch sides ahead of Iraq’s November 11 parliamentary election.

“Halwest Movement removes two candidates, accused of contact with the PUK and attempting to sell out to the PUK,” party leader Ali Hama Saleh wrote on Facebook, claiming the PUK “is busy buying people with smuggled and stolen money.”

Halwest media identified the candidates as Rebaz Abdullah and Munira Abdullah Barzanji. Idris Mohammed, head of the Halwest election department, confirmed their removal to Rudaw, saying, “We continue our work and nothing discourages us.”

Shortly after Halwest’s statement, PUK Media issued a statement claiming growing support from candidates across parties and provinces, saying the party “has created complete trust among the people… this very thing has caused candidates from parties from all different areas to continuously contact the PUK and return to the big house.”

Nabard Omar, director of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) office in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw that the two candidates remain on the ballot. “Their names are not removed from the voting list and remain with the commission. They have only been withdrawn by their party,” he said.

The PUK said on Wednesday that ten candidates from other parties have “returned to the big house.” It claimed three People’s Front (Baray Gal) candidates and two Halwest candidates in Sulaimani, from Baray Gal, four candidates in Duhok, and one in Nineveh had contacted or aligned with the party.

Baray Gal Leader Lahur Talabany is a former co-president of the PUK. He was arrested in August following a violent standoff between his armed loyalists and security personnel. Sulaimani security forces (Asayish) then released what they said were confessions from a group linked to Talabany, detailing a plot to assassinate PUK leader Bafel Talabani. Baray Gal has denied the accusations.

Tensions have been high between cousins Bafel Talabani and Lahur Talabany since 2021 when Bafel forced him out of the PUK leadership. Talabany went on to form his own party, Baray Gal, which stands in opposition to the PUK and currently holds two seats in the Kurdistan Parliament.

At the time of writing, the Baray Gal had not commented on the PUK’s Wednesday announcement..

More than 21.4 million eligible voters have renewed biometric cards for the election, according to IHEC.

Nationwide, 31 alliances, 38 parties, 23 independent candidates, and 56 minority quota candidates are competing for 329 parliamentary seats.

Over 7,700 candidates are registered, with more than 39,000 polling stations set to operate across nearly 8,703 centers, including special stations for security forces and displaced voters.