Kurdistan Alliance Party selects new head for Iraq's upcoming provincial elections

“I wish to keep our alliance intact because, with one united voice, we will prevail.”

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – During a meeting on Tuesday, Kurdish political parties in Sulaimani province selected former Kirkuk governor Abdul Rahman Mustafa as the new leader of the Kurdistan Alliance Party for Iraq’s provincial elections.

Kurdish political parties agreed over the weekend to form a coalition in the upcoming provincial elections in areas disputed between the Federal Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Read More: Kurdish political parties agree to unite for Iraq's 2020 provincial elections

The announcement was made at a press conference following the meeting where 16 Kurdish factions agreed on a leader and a logo for the alliance.

“I am pleased that I have been selected by the majority of the votes as this is a patriotic duty,” Mustafa told reporters on Tuesday.

“I wish to keep our alliance intact because, with one united voice, we will prevail.”

The logo of the Kurdistan Alliance was also decided upon in the meeting, Zimnako Jalal, head of the election unit in the Gorran (Change) Party said.

According to Jalal, the logo symbolizes “coexistence and the fundamentals of the [Iraqi] Constitution.” He also pleaded with voters to prepare for the elections and renew any necessary documents before heading to the polls.

The vote is set to be held on April 1, 2020, to elect local governments for all provinces except the four within the Kurdistan Region, which holds its local elections.

Most of the disputed territories have been under the control of the federal government since October 2017 when Iraqi forces and Shia-dominated militias attacked and took over Kirkuk and other contested areas, pushing Kurdish Peshmerga forces from them. The move was in response to the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum held a month earlier.

The upcoming provincial election will be the first since the military defeat of the so-called Islamic State.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany