No elections jeopardizes legitimacy of Kurdistan Region, says President Barzani

Julian Bechocha

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The failure of the Kurdistan Region holding timely elections puts into question the legality of the Kurdistan Region and is a subject of concern, the Region’s President Nechirvan Barzani said Sunday as the prospect for parliamentary elections continues to falter.  

“The nonexistence of elections puts into question the entire political process and the constitutionality of the Kurdistan Region,” Barzani said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Germany. 

The Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections were supposed to be held last year, but members of the legislature voted in October by a majority to extend the current four-year term by another year, after disagreements between the blocs over the current elections law and the electoral commission prevented new elections from being carried out. 

“We are confident that elections will be held this year,” the president said while expressing regret about the inability for the Kurdistan Region to have held elections last year. 

The inability of the Kurdistan Region to hold elections has also been a point of contention between its ruling parties - the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) - who have often found themselves entangled in a clash of words over the elections law, as the Sulaimani-based PUK has said it would support new polls once the elections law has been amended.

Despite working together in the KRG, the two parties have established control over different parts of the Region, often being referred to as the “Yellow Zone” and “Green Zone“. The KDP is dominant in Erbil and Duhok provinces, while the PUK rules Sulaimani and Halabja.

“The elections day must be defined,” the president stated.

In order to address these concerns, Barzani affirmed that his team will hold meetings with other parties to resolve issues.
“The Presidency’s policy is that we will initiate discussions with political parties in the Kurdistan Region after we return from the Munich Conference,” he said. 

Erbil-Baghdad disputes

During his speech, Barzani also discussed the ongoing disputes between Baghdad and Erbil, as tensions have escalated in recent times between the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over oil and gas, the federal budget bill, and rulings from Iraq’s top court against the Kurdistan Region. 

“The Kurdistan Region wants to address its issues within the framework of the Iraqi constitution,” Barzani said. “It is true that there are issues, but at the same time, the issues are not at the point where they are unresolvable.”

The Iraqi Federal Supreme court in late January ruled against the payment of the Kurdistan Region’s financial entitlements to Baghdad, claiming it violates the 2021 Iraqi Budget Law. 

The court ruling followed another major blow to the Kurdistan Region last February, when the top court found the Region’s oil and gas law to be “unconstitutional” and therefore struck down the legal basis for the independence of the Region’s oil and gas sector – a decision widely slammed by top Kurdish leaders who called the court itself “unconstitutional.”

When this government was formed, it was done as a result of cooperation between Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites … if the other components do not want to abide by this agreement, we, as Kurds, have no reason to remain in this government,” Barzani stated, criticizing Baghdad’s pressure campaign against Erbil through a series of Federal Court rulings. 

ISIS: a lingering threat

The Islamic State (ISIS) terror group swept through vast swathes of Iraq in 2014, but was declared fully devoid of territorial control in 2017 as the Iraqi army, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces took city after city from the group. 
However, the militants continue to pose a serious security risk to the country, particularly in the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil where they regularly conduct hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions. 

“We do not believe that the Islamic State (ISIS) is finished. We still believe that ISIS possesses the ability to seriously threaten the security of Iraq,” President Barzani said. 

In neighboring Syria, ISIS on Friday carried out one of its largest attacks since January last year, killing 68 civilians in the central Homs province as they were hunting for desert truffles.

Barzani arrived in Germany on Friday to attend the MSC that attracts a wide audience of world leaders and officials. On the sidelines of the conference’s first day, Barzani met US Senator Chris Van Hollen, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and Celeste Wallander, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.

The Kurdish President thanked the countries of the European Union for their military, humanitarian, and political support of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, and reiterated the Region’s will to develop mutual relations.