Kurdistan Islamic party presents itself as opposition in current parliament

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) on Monday announced that in the current term of the Kurdistan Parliament, the party would be a part of the opposition after their number of seats were halved in the recent election.

In their statement, the Kurdish Islamic party rejected the final results of the parliamentary election recently released by the region’s electoral commission.

The KIU accused the ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), of carrying out “violations and vote-rigging during the electoral process, tampering with the people’s votes [to change the results] in their interest.”

The statement was issued following the party’s meeting in Erbil.

“After discussing the results of our [own] surveys, the Leadership Council decided that the KIU, in this term, will not partake in the new regional government cabinet,” the statement continued.

"We will continue our political struggle as opposition, our active participation in a true reform process, standing against corruption and providing justice for all people."

Out of nine commissioners with the Kurdistan Region’s Independent High Election and Referendum Commission (IHERC), only five of them had approved the results of the Sep. 30 parliamentary election.

The KIU won 10 seats in the 2013 parliamentary election, but the number has dropped to five in 2018 election despite forming an electoral coalition with the Kurdistan Islamic Movement (KIM), which had one seat.

On the other hand, the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG), known as Komal in Kurdish, has won seven seats, one seat more than the previous election.

Editing by Nadia Riva