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Tamer El-Ghobashy
Head of Baghdad office focuses on Iraqi politics, security and the fight against the Islamic State
BAGHDAD – The Kurds voted Sunday in the legislative elections for the first time since 2013, an effort to launch a stagnant political scene in northern Iraq, marked by opposing visions for the future of the autonomous region.
This vote is the first since the internal political struggles and the growing threat of an Islamic state that has closed the last parliament, triggering a fierce struggle for control of the Kurdistan regional government between two dynastic political parties, the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
It is also the first time that Kurds go to the polls after the referendum held last year on the independence of Iraq. Despite the fact that 94% of voters chose to secede, the referendum failed to gain international support and provoked a firm response from Baghdad, who saw Kurdish territory and economic independence considerably reduced.
Given the fallout from the referendum and the deep frustration over the two-party policy that has dominated the region since its semi-autonomy in 1991, many Kurds have expressed apathy over Sunday's vote.
"I will not vote and waste my time for nothing," said Farouq Omar, a 31-year-old man from the Kurdistan Regional Government or KRG, capital of Irbil. "We already voted in the referendum and saw the result: we lost what we had instead of winning anything."
According to the Kurdish electoral authorities, the figures published after the closure of the polling stations revealed a participation rate of 58% in the main KRG provinces.
Masoud Barzani, former head of the Kurdish regional government, voted Sunday in Irbil. (Stringer / AFP / Getty Images)
Long a favorite of American diplomats, military generals and politicians for its pro-Western stance and modern appetite, the KRG has been isolated since the referendum in 2017. The United States warned against holding the vote and supported the ensuing military and economic measures in Baghdad, including the resumption of the Kirkuk oil province by Iraqi troops and the banning of international travel.
Although relations with Baghdad have improved since then, the disastrous fallout from the referendum has accelerated splits between the KDP and the PUK and within the parties themselves. Masoud Barzani, chairman of the KRG and senior representative of the KDP, resigned as president but retained control of the KDP.
The rivalries born of the KDP-led referendum only intensified and infiltrated into Iraqi national politics. For the first time since the start of the elections in Iraq in 2005, the Kurds have appointed politicians vying for the post of President of Iraq. Although they are largely a ceremonial seat, Kurds have traditionally gathered behind a member of the PUK.
This year, as Iraq strove to form a government since the May elections, the KDP has been keen to introduce its own candidate for the presidency of Iraq, which is reserved for the Kurd under the informal agreement. power-sharing agreement concluded by Iraq. The role of Speaker of Parliament is a Sunni, while the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister, is reserved for a Shiite.
The competition for the presidency reflects the growing gap between the Kurds as they try to regroup at the end of the referendum in a climate of protest against economic difficulties and a space of tightening for the expression policy.
Since 2014, Kurdish leaders have reacted to economic decline by gathering Kurds around the fight against the Islamic State while underlining the role of the region in hosting hundreds of thousands of Iraqis displaced from their cities by the group. activist.
"Then the next regional government will have to focus on how to build an operational and functional government," said Renad Mansour, an expert on Kurdish and Iraqi politics at Chatham House.
Sunday's election and the battle for Iraq's presidency highlighted the competing visions of the KRG.
The PUK has called for better relations with Baghdad to improve the fate of the Kurdish region, while the KDP has insisted that an independent Kurdistan would strengthen the Kurdish government's position in revenue sharing and quarrels. security with the Iraqi central government.
The competition in Baghdad over the presidency has helped to give rise in the Kurdish region to the fact that Sunday's election is only a formality and that it will consecrate the KDP and the PUK as dominant parties.
But for smaller opposition groups that have struggled to get into the system, Sunday's vote is a critical test of their influence.
Gorran, also known as the Movement for Change, is seeking to improve its 24 seats out of a total of 111 that it had won in 2013. Gorran leaders believe Sunday's election is more open than previous competitions, due to popular discontent with poor governance. saw unpaid or delayed public salaries and the economic and psychological consequences of the failure of the push for independence.
Gorran initially opposed the referendum calendar, but finally backed it last September in a context of intense political pressure.
Ayoub Abdullah Ismael, a legislator from Gorran, said the Kurdish government has been out of control of the parliament for more than five years and that his party would vigorously assume the role of watchdog while improving relations with the central Iraqi government. The money that Baghdad has regularly frozen on the KRG.
"This election will be the last chance to correct the political process in Kurdistan," he said. "We will do our best to break the ice with Baghdad in the interest of the people of Kurdistan."
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