Barham Salih’s CDJ to boycott Kurdistan’s Sep. 30 election

Barham Salih on Sunday announced his Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ) would not participate in the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary election scheduled for Sep. 30.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Barham Salih on Sunday announced his Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ) would not participate in the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary election scheduled for Sep. 30.

Following a meeting in Erbil with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) delegation, headed by the deputy leader, Nechirvan Barzani, Salih told reporters in a press conference that his party would not participate in the upcoming regional vote.

“We, as CDJ, are not part of the high electoral commission and have no members in the Kurdistan Parliament,” Salih said.

“Instead, what we have are concerns regarding some [voting] measures and the registration list of the electoral commission. We have decided not to take part in the election process, but we hope it will be a successful one because the people can no longer bear the current tensions,” he added while standing next to Barzani, who is also the Prime Minister of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region.

He mentioned that the current issues in the Kurdistan Region require a national dialogue, stating no party can address the problems on their own.

Salih also said the Kurdistan Region needs to “re-organize itself” to be able to deal with the threats facing the region, as well as benefit from the significant opportunities when they present themselves.

Some Kurdish parties expressed their support for delaying the election, but Barzani during the joint press conference reaffirmed the government had received no official requests from parties to postpone the vote.

He noted that 95 percent of the technical preparations for the Sep. 30 election were already completed.

Salih was a key leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). In Sep. 2017, he announced his resignation from the PUK and formed a new opposition party - the CDJ - to run in the May 12 national parliamentary election. He secured two seats out of total 329 seats of the Iraqi Parliament.

Editing by Nadia Riva