KRG Representative in Washington: It’s crucial for Kurds, Iraqis to vote in elections

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representative in Washington, stressed the importance of having a high voter turnout in the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections in October in an interview with Kurdistan 24 last week.

“These elections are very important for all of us—for Kurdistan, for the Kurdish parties, for the Iraqi parties, Arab parties, and others,” and “of course, also for the United States and the international community,” she said.

“The elections in 2018 were not, overall, successful,” Abdul Rahman explained. “In certain parts of Iraq, the turnout was extremely low,” but “this time, I hope the turnout will be higher.”

“Certainly, this is the hope of the United States, the European countries, and other partners,” she added.

These democratic partners of the Kurds “want to give confidence to the Iraqi voter—whether they are Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, Turkomen, or anybody else—that this time, there will be monitoring of the elections,” Abdul Rahman stated. In addition, “the UN mission in Iraq has organized an observer mission.”

In fact, there will be two election observer missions—one from the UN mission in Iraq and a second from the European Union. Altogether, there will be 600 election observers.

Some 4,500 local observers will supplement them, and special attention will be paid to voting in the disputed territories between the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi federal government.

Read More: Some 5,000 observers to monitor Iraqi election, with special focus on disputed territories

On September 11, the 60th anniversary of the revolution begun by the legendary Kurdish leader, Mustafa Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Masoud Barzani, announced the start of the KDP’s election campaign.

“For us in the Kurdistan Region, it’s critical that people vote,” Abdul Rahman said. “It’s critical that the Kurds are given the authority in their mandate to go to Baghdad with a very strong vote” and for “our leadership” to “hear the voice of the people.”

She also stressed the importance of female participation in Kurdish political life. “For women,” it’s “very important both to vote and also to be elected,” Abdul Rahman said.

“We can see it’s been proven statistically that countries where women are active participants in society, in the economy and politics, those countries are more peaceful, more stable, and economically more prosperous,” she continued.

And she concluded, “I think Kurdistan can certainly be the example of that in the Middle East.”