ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A conference bringing together the two feuding Gorran factions under the supervision of Iraq’s electoral commission was suspended before it began on Saturday.
“Problems and disagreements have emerged between the two factions. So they told us the conference has been postponed, but they haven't told us when it has been postponed to,” Nizar Mahmoud, affiliated with the Zargata faction, told Rudaw.
Gorran has split into two camps: one headquartered on Zargata Hill and led by the sons of the party’s late founder, Nawshirwan Mustafa, and the other based in Sulaimani’s Kurdsat neighborhood under the leadership of Dana Ahmed Majid, acting general coordinator. Each faction tried to hold a congress in April, but the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) rejected them, Zargata’s because there were no commission officials present and Kurdsat’s because it lacked a quorum.
On Saturday morning, both factions were expected to meet for a conference in Sulaimani, supervised by IHEC, but it has been postponed.
Mahmoud said his group is still waiting for clarity about a new date for the conference: “If they don’t tell us the time, we will leave.”
The dispute within the party emerged after the death of its founder, poor electoral performances, and disagreements over its leadership and internal regulations.
Gorran emerged on the scene and made history in 2009 by winning 25 seats in the Kurdistan Region’s 111-seat parliament. Campaigning on a platform of reform and transparency, it became the first opposition party to achieve a significant electoral win.
The party, however, has suffered a steep decline in popularity, particularly after controversial decisions such as handing power to the sons of founder Mustafa following his death, and entering into alliances with the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) - moves many viewed as a betrayal of its reformist roots.
In Iraq’s 2021 parliamentary elections, Gorran failed to secure a single seat. In the aftermath of the loss, all members of the party’s governing body, including then-leader Omar Sayyid Ali, resigned.
Last September, Ali formally handed over leadership to Majid in a public ceremony held in a park in Sulaimani after Mustafa’s sons blocked access to the party’s Zargata Hill headquarters in protest of Majid’s appointment.
Just ten days before the Kurdistan Region’s October 2024 parliamentary elections, Majid announced Gorran’s withdrawal from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and local administrations. In that vote, Gorran secured only one seat.
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