Some parties firm on September Kurdistan elections, some malleable

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – As the Kurdistan Region's parliamentary elections loom, two parties on Wednesday reaffirmed their intention to keep to the scheduled date of Sept. 30, while officials from two rival political groups appeared to hint they would publicly favor the potentially unpopular idea of a delay if it first gained traction with others. 

During a press conference in Erbil, regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and second in charge at the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) stated that his bloc was firmly against any postponement. In his role as the top official of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), he said, "Our position as the government is that the election will take place on the given date."

"No entity has so far officially asked the [KRG] to delay the elections,” he went on to say, leaving room for interpretation that at least one entity had inquired unofficially.

Also that day, Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) leader Abdul-Sattar Majid told reporters that he viewed it as “a right of the public” to hold the vote on time.

Leaders from both the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), however, suggested that their positions in favor of holding parliamentary elections at the end of next month might be subject to change. Both seemed to want to avoid being the first to declare it openly, choosing instead to float the idea, presumably hoping others might take the lead.

The comments came, confusingly, during the same joint press conferences held on Wednesday with the KDP and Komal, where the very statements in favor of not postponing the elections above were given, following inter-party meetings. 

Answering a question about recent reports of Gorran party members claiming that they had reached an agreement with the PUK to delay the election, PUK Spokesperson Saadi Ahmed Pira said his party "was ready for the vote at any time," but made it clear his stance was malleable if calls for postponement were first made by other groups.

The KIU’s Salahaddin Bahaaddin expressed similar sentiments, telling reporters that, “there have been no agreements to call for a delay in the election, therefore our current stance is to hold the voting on the specified date.”

He added, though, that if this changed, then his party would formally ask the government to set a new date, further down the road.

Editing by John J. Catherine