Kurdish parties await election recount before coalition talks

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Representatives of Iraq’s Kurdish parties, which allege fraud in the May 12 elections, express fears of a looming political crisis if the proper authorities do not address their complaints.

Amid uncertainty surrounding the effects of the ballot recounts, some complaining parties have opted to wait on coalition talks for the upcoming Baghdad government.

“After we get our real votes…then we will meet our allies and decide [coalitions],” Kwestan Mohammed, a member of Gorran (Change), told Kurdistan 24, expressing her party’s readiness to “work with other entities whose votes were stolen” and reach a conclusion.

A Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG) member, meanwhile, highlighted the importance of the approach the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) will take during negotiations.

KIG, one of three Islamic parties in Kurdistan, failed to agree on a religious alliance for the upcoming Sep. 30 Kurdistan elections after thorough talks. The other two—the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and Kurdistan Islamic Movement (KIM)—however, formally registered as one alliance.

According to the Independent High Elections and Referendum Commission (IHERC), July 2 is the deadline for political parties to form and register their coalitions for the Sep. 30 elections. The commission had already extended the deadline.

“Both powerful parties of Yaketi [PUK] and Parti [KDP] must come forth [to the negotiation tables] in a new way,” KIG member Fakhrudin Qadir said.

He added that KDP and PUK’s policy must change as they “cannot use the approach” of arriving at deals by “promising positions” in government.

The spokesperson for the Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ), Rebwar Karim, pointed to challenges in unity and teamwork at a time when there were “frauds in the [Iraqi] election.”

“The main step must be the return of votes; afterward, we can lay a strategic plan to achieve the constitutional rights of the Kurdish people in Baghdad.”

Iraq’s Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction over elections in the country, recently ruled in favor of Parliament’s plan to hold a full recount of ballots cast on May 12.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

(Diyar Jamal contributed to this report)