MESOP : IRAQI ELECTION AND RESULTS & CONSEQUENCES FOR KURDISTAN

Kurds need unity to overtake the post-election challenges in Baghdad

5-5-2014 – By Salih Waladbagi – Kurdish Globe – The Iraqis, including the Kurds in the northern Region of Kurdistan, cast vote on 30 April, 2014 for the first time after the U.S. troops pulled out from Iraq in 2011. The initial results show that none of the political parties have so far won the majority of the votes to form the next government. Meaning: they should wait for long political wrangling.

The Iraqis, including the Kurds in the northern Region of Kurdistan, cast vote on 30 April, 2014 for the first time after the U.S. troops pulled out from Iraq in 2011.The initial results show that none of the political parties have so far won the majority of the votes to form the next government. Meaning: they should wait for long political wrangling. The Kurdish political leadership should think of forming a united Kurdish alliance and get ready to defend the Kurdistan Region?s rights in Baghdad, capital of federal Iraq, in the post-election bargains.

The major challenges for the upcoming Kurdish Parliamentarians are: the negotiations over oil and gas revenues; finding a solution for Kurdistan’s share which has been one of the key issues since 2003; find a solution for the constitutional Article 140 to settle the disputes over the Kurdish areas now outside the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) administration as well as the budget of the Peshmarga .

The Kurdish Parliamentarians have to be supported fully by the Kurdish leadership as well as by the Kurdistan Regional Presidency with the intention of having a strong say in Baghdad during the talks. According to the initial and informal statistics published by the media outlets affiliated with the Kurdish political parties, all the Kurdish parties together might gain 58 parliamentary seats in the elections, around the same number of seats (57) that they gained in the last election in 2010. Since the last September Parliamentary elections in Kurdistan, the five major Kurdish political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) which came out the strongest party in the elections and led by the Regional President Massoud Barzani, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by the ailing President Jalal Talabani, the Change Movement (Gorran) led by Noshirwan Mustafa who split from the PUK in 2009, the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG) have not been able to form KRG cabinet.

The signs of a serious division among the Kurdish parties at home will make it easier for the Iraqi Shiite and Sunni parties to exploit the situation and utilize it for their own advantages. The strength and weakness of the Kurdish parties domestically will affect the Kurdish unity in Baghdad; this will subsequently diminish people’s supports and confidence in these political parties. That is what the opponents wish for. According to the reports, the Kurdish parties do not have any ambition to fill the Iraqi Presidential post because the Kurds believe it is a ceremonial post and they cannot push their demands through it. On the other hand, Jalal Talabani is no longer there to run the post. He played a peace-making role and tried to bring all the unhappy parties together around one table.

The Kurds might wish to exchange the Presidential post with the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Defense. Prime Minister Maliki has, over the past month, lost several towns as the Sunni terrorist groups are back with full focus on targeting the Shiite-led government. The people also blame the government over lack of public service projects and the widespread corruption as well as the deadening bureaucracy have aggravated the situation even further.

The residents of Sunni provinces such as Nineveh and Anbar are frustrated due to government shortcomings, accusing the government of marginalizing the Sunni parties in ruling the country. The Kurds in the north of the country enjoy stability and security and a better lifestyle as the economy boosts and many international companies operate in the Region. They have provoked the issue of an independent Kurdish state in the past few years. Through cutting the KRG budget and constant row over oil, the Iraqi leaders indirectly force the Kurds to feel that they are a different nation. Some Iraqi leaders even stated openly that the Kurds are free to go their own way and declare independence. All the Iraqi and Kurdish parties are waiting eagerly to hear the final results of the elections by the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in the upcoming weeks. http://www.kurdishglobe.net/article/51E4286C53558665DA3F5C5B61D17A0A/Kurds-need-unity-to-overtake-the-post-election-challenges-in-Baghdad.html