Kurdish political parties call for redo of parliamentary elections in Kurdistan

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Six political parties in the Kurdistan Region have questioned the preliminary elections results and call for a redo of the general elections in the Region and disputed areas.

In a statement read on behalf of the other political parties on Monday, Salahadin Bahadin, Head of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), rejected the elections process in the Kurdistan Region and disputed areas.

The KIU, Gorran (Change) Movement, Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal), Kurdistan Communist Party, Coalition for Democracy and Justice, and the Islamic Movement met in Erbil on Monday to discuss the elections process in the Region.

All six political parties decided to “reject the preliminary results and the entire elections process due to the tampering of votes and will of the people of the Kurdistan Region,” Bahadin said, reading the joint statement during a press at the KIU’s headquarters.

He said the six political parties “call for a redo of the elections in the Kurdistan Region, Kirkuk, and other disputed areas under international supervision.”

According to the KIU leader, the purpose of the meeting was “to join efforts in defending our voters and return their real dues.”

“The six Kurdish parties will take all legal, political, and civic measures away from violence to take back our rights,” Bahadin stated.

He also called on the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to take immediate steps to work on their demands.

Hours after polling stations closed across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, some Kurdish parties, save for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), rejected unofficial election results for the Sulaimani Province, urging the IHEC to recount ballots manually due to allegations of fraud.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany