The Change Movement (Gorran), Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal), and the Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ) issued a joint statement urging “collaboration with the political parties of the Kurdistan Region to establish a provisional government through the Kurdistan Parliament that can assume responsibility for negotiations with Iraq’s Federal Government.”
They also called for free and fair elections to be planned with international supervision and completion of the draft Kurdistan Region constitution “to affirm a parliamentary political system, and improvement of people’s daily lives.”
The parties state that it is necessary to preserve Kurdish unity and protect “the Kurdish people from the dangers of internal conflict and civil war.”
Gorran and Komal were both part of the five-party coalition government formed after the last Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections in 2013 and led by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) were also part of the coalition government.
CDJ is a new party, formed this summer by Barhim Salih, former member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
KDP, PUK, and KIU announced an agreement to postpone elections, scheduled to take place on November 1, for eight months, also extending the current term of parliament until election day.
The Kurdistan parliament on Tuesday voted in favor of the move.
Gorran has not attended any sessions since the legislature was reactivated in September after being shut for two years amid a political row between Gorran and the KDP, largely over the presidential law. Gorran wants to see the post of the president reduced to a ceremonial role and the parliament strengthened.
The statement from Gorran, Komal, and CDJ called for the “abolishment of the office of the Presidency of Kurdistan Region, and the lawful transferal of its legal authorities to respective government institutions.”
It concluded that the parliament should be the highest political authority in the Kurdistan Region, with “no political authority superior to the Parliament.”
Gorran, Komal, and CDJ also addressed developments on the ground in Kirkuk province, which fell to the Iraqi government’s army and Shiite militia after Peshmerga pulled out last week. They stressed that “the Federal Government should deal with the disputed territories on the basis of the [Iraqi] Constitution to normalize the situation in these areas, and to ensure the return of displaced families to their homes.”
The United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have reported civilian deaths, looting, arson, and forced displacements, mainly of Kurds, in disputed areas, including Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu.
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