Wahlkampf in Irakisch-Kurdistan

Über den Wahlkampf im kurdischen Nordirak schreibt Niqash:

Now that federal elections are approaching, it seems clear that the political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan are using this vote as a way to measure their own popularity - and that in turn might see certain parties advocating for a further delay in regional elections.

The campaign message coming from the Iraqi Kurdish political parties that have mostly been in opposition – the Change movement and the Kurdish Islamic parties – is clear: They want to continue to confront the parties in power here, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, or KDP, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK. The opposition parties have been challenging the KDP and PUK for months, accusing them of breaking promises and other violations.

The message coming from the other corner – the KDP and the PUK – is also apparent. The two parties have been ruling the Iraqi Kurdish region in tandem for almost 30 years now and do not appear ready to step away from power, even if disgruntled voters say they should.

In January a senior member of the PUK, Mullah Bakhtiar, caused consternation with a statement made during an interview. “Regardless of the number of seats we win, whether one or 100, we will continue to be the PUK… we have weapons and nobody can take them from us,” he said.

He is referring to the fact that although the Iraqi Kurdish region is supposed to be a democracy, only two political parties have armed followers and more or less control local security forces. That is, the PUK and the KDP. 

Responding to that statement, a senior member of the Change movement, Qadir Haji Ali, told supporters at a rally that, “if we get one more seat than the PUK and KDP, we will take power from them within a week”.

All of which appears to be more about Iraqi Kurdish internal politics, than national issues. This analysis is supported by the fact that most of the campaigning politicians talk about solving Kurdish problems, rather than Iraqi ones. The unpaid salaries are a major topic. All the parties talk about how they will restore the Kurdish power that was lost after the independence referendum, even though the federal elections won’t help much with that.