KDP has guaranteed 25 seats in Iraqi Parliament: KDP official

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) election office Supervisor Khosraw Goran on Thursday assured that the KDP would have at least 25 seats in the new Iraqi Parliament.

“In Duhok, we have 10 seats, in Erbil eight seats, in Sulaimani one seat, and six more seats in Mosul,” Goran said during a press conference.

The official did not mention Kirkuk because the KDP considers it occupied territory, and, therefore, had decided to abstain from running in the oil-rich ethnically diverse region.

Addressing concerns of fraud in the elections raised by six Kurdish parties, he said: “We have contacted them [the six parties] and told them we support them in every location [KRG and Mosul] where they have requested a recount of votes.”

“We do not agree with the results in Sulaimani,” Goran added. “The Commission must tend to the problems as they [the IHEC] are responsible for the breaking of [election] rules.”

The KDP official rejected allegations of election fraud by his party, noting that they “are ready to go to the Commission to have them open the ballot boxes for a manual recount.”

Regarding the KDP’s drop in votes in Sulaimani Province, Goran explained that the “KDP had not split into more parties to expect a drop in the number of votes.”

“We expected to get even more votes [than the last election] since a new generation of voters would be a part of the election.”

“We have halved our vote count in the province of Sulaimani,” Goran stated, adding his party was suspicious of the results of the tally in the divided province where the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is in the lead.

Goran said the reason the KDP finished in first place in the Kurdistan Region was due to a proclamation by the people of Kurdistan that his party “is the party of the people of Kurdistan and the party that will guarantee their [the people’s] rights in Baghdad.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany