ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Rival Kurdish parties are attempting to run together in upcoming provincial elections in the disputed Iraqi-Kurdish territories, principally Kirkuk. On Thursday, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) sent a letter to Kurdish parties asking them to prepare the mechanisms through which they could run together as one list in the Provincial Council on April 1, 2020 in the disputed territories. In the past two weeks, the relations and elections departments of Kurdish parties in Kirkuk have held four meetings to discuss a joint list in the elections, according to a PUK official. "It is important that a supreme committee is quickly established for the formation of such a [joint list] because we have very little time," Aso Mamand, a PUK Politburo member from Kirkuk, told Rudaw, adding that October 16 was the deadline for registering lists in Iraq’s Electoral Commission. Kirkuk is one of the disputed territories between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. The disputed territories have a mix of Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen, Christian, Yezidi and other inhabitants. Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein forcibly moved people to and from Kirkuk and other areas during his reign, further exacerbating tensions. Kurdish forces took control of Kirkuk and other disputed territories amidst the Islamic State (ISIS) crisis in 2014 when the Iraqi army fled. However, Iraqi forces retook Kirkuk and most of the contested areas in 2017 following the Kurdistan independence referendum. Within the period left between now and the deadline for registering the list, the parties should think of a name, the structure of the list and other details, according to Mamand. "All Kurds should be one party. Otherwise, whosoever thinks about running on a separate list are being unjust to Kurds, to Kirkuk and to the [disputed] areas,” he said. In his comments to Rudaw TV on Thursday, Mamand said that boycotting the elections is out of the question. "The topic of Kurds and the disputed territories is much bigger than the details of the president, content or name of the list," he said. For the KRG's ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KRG), Kirkuk is a sore point, but a joint list is a possibility. In the last May 12 parliamentary elections in Iraq in 2018,the KDP did not run in Kirkuk, calling the city "occupied and sold out" and demanding an end to what it has called militarization of the city by Iraqi forces. It is still not sure if it will participate in the provincial council elections, according to Adnan Kirkuki, a member of KDP's Kirkuk and Garmiyan Leadership Council. "However, we [Kurdish parties] are all in agreement that if we were to participate, we should all participate together," Kirkuki told Rudaw. “If not, none of us should participate.” "In case of participation, we should all run in one list.” Khasro Goran, head of the KDP's Elections Office, said on Thursday night that the KDP "surely backs walking together" with other Kurdish parties as the KDP's policy in disputed territories is "Kurdish patriotism". "We have reached out to some parties in the past days. This will continue in the coming days,” Goran told Rudaw. “Then we hopefully will make a collective decision concerning the elections.” Goran predicted Kurdish parties will get more seats in Kirkuk than they would otherwise if they run together. "If we are united in one list in Kirkuk, then we will get one to two more seats in Kirkuk based on voting base," he said. There are obstacles regarding forming a joint list for elections in the disputed territories. One of the sticking points is the topic of the normalization of Kirkuk's situation, and the second is parties having issues with certain candidates being on such a joint list. It took the KDP and PUK months to choose a candidate for the Kirkuk province governorship. Some Kurds living in disputed Kirkuk hope for unity among the parties that have long been in disarray in the territories. "Since 1980, all I hear from Kurds is saying we will be united,” Dilshad Mohammed, a baker in Kirkuk, told Rudaw. “I hope this time a new page is turned so that they are united in order for them to see what problems the people have.” Another local Kurdish resident, however, had a more pessimistic outlook. "For the sake of their pockets, they forget the people,” Ahmed Hasan, a Kebab maker, told Rudaw. “In the end, they don't benefit the people while the [Kurdish] people in this city are oppressed and no longer have any say." Despite the talk of a joint list, the Kurdish parties feel uneasy about the provincial elections. According to the latest amendment by Iraq's parliament of the Provincial Election Law, many Kurds of Kirkuk, expelled during the Saddam era and are yet to return to Kirkuk, might get deprived of their voting rights "We have asked that the election law, which is unfair and violates the constitution, be amended,” said Mamand. “This is something that all Kurds and political parties need to stage pressure to amend this law.” Both the KDP and PUK have appealed against the parliament’s amendment in Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court in a bid for the amendment to be annulled. Kirkuk hasn’t had a provincial council elections since 2005, mainly due to its disputed nature and disagreements between Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen in the province. In 2005, out of 41 provincial council seats, Kurds were able to win 26 seats when they ran on the joint Kurdistan Brotherhood List that included some Turkmen parties as well.
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