Iraqi Kurdistan delays presidential and parliamentary elections

A picture of Massoud Barzani, July 25, 2009. Photo: Reuters.

Updated on October 24, 2017.

HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Parliament in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region decided Tuesday to hold legislative elections in eight months after they were delayed amid tensions with the central government in Baghdad over disputed territories.

Regional legislative and presidential elections had both been due on November 1 but were postponed after Baghdad seized a swathe of territory from Kurdish forces following a controversial independence vote.

Last week, Iraqi forces captured the oil city of Kirkuk and other territory claimed by the Kurds in retaliation for the referendum, dealing a severe blow to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) leader Massoud Barzani.

There was no immediate word on a new date for a presidential election.

“The Kurdistan parliament decided… to postpone the parliamentary elections in the autonomous region by eight months,” Islamic Union of Kurdistan parliamentarian Bahzad Zebari told AFP.

Farsat Sofi of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of long-time Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said parliament would now choose a new date for legislative and presidential elections.

The elections were originally set for just over a month after a September 25 referendum in the Kurdish areas which resulted in a massive “yes” for independence.

But the referendum, set in motion by Barzani, was strongly opposed by Baghdad.

Last week, Iraqi forces last week swept into the oil-rich northern province of Kirkuk, restoring it and Kurdish-held parts of Nineveh and Diyala provinces to central government control.

The rapid Kurdish retreat triggered recriminations among Kurdish politicians and prompted the regional parliament to suspend both elections.

It also decided “to freeze the activities of the Kurdistan presidency,” Zebari said Tuesday.

The body includes Barzani, his vice-president Kosrat Rasul of KDP rival the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the head of the presidential cabinet, Fuad Hussein.

Massoud Barzani has led Kurdistan region as president from 2005 for two executive terms and his last term was extended in 2013 by ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) for two more years on the condition that he can no longer run as president.

Barzani’s term as president of Kurdistan expired on August 20, 2015 but refused to step down and remains unofficially in office.

According to the law, Barzani cannot run for presidency anymore and his term cannot be extended. But the KDP insists that Massoud Barzani should remain president of the region.

Political risk analyst Kirk Sowell told Reuters on August 4, 2015 “If it were a stable democratic system, they would just vote him out of office. But it’s not,”

Barzani has closed the Kurdish parliament in October 2015 after his term expired and his KDP prevented Kurdistan parliament speaker, Yusuf Mohammed Sadiq, from Gorran Movement, from entering Erbil and Kurdistan PM Nechirvan Barzani has removed four members of his cabinet from the Change Movement and replaced them with KDP politicians.

Barzani said in March 2016 I will not leave power until Kurdistan get statehood. “The day we have an independent Kurdistan, I will cease to be the president of that Kurdistan”

The loss of Kirkuk prompted calls from Gorran, the main opposition party to Barzani, for his resignation.

Gorran, or the Change Movement, supports the right of Iraq’s Kurds for self-determination but it opposed holding the referendum on Sept. 25, saying the timing was ill-chosen.

Kurdistan considered as the most corrupted part of Iraq. According to Kurdish lawmakers billions of dollars are missing from Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil revenues.

Barzani has been accused by critics of amassing huge wealth for his family instead of serving the population. Barzani’s son is the Kurdistan region’s intelligence chief and his nephew Nechirvan Barzani is the prime minister.

Blows to Barzani

The body’s suspension, and the fact that parliament did not extend its mandate again, represent major blows to Barzani.

On Sunday, Iraqi Kurdistan’s main opposition party called on him to step down after the loss of Kurdish-controlled territory.

Shoresh Haji of the opposition Goran movement, which holds 24 out of 111 seats in the Iraqi Kurdish parliament, said both Barzani and Rasul should quit.

“The Kurdistan region’s president and his deputy no longer have any legitimacy and should resign,” he said.

Haji called for the creation of a “national salvation government” to prepare for dialogue with Baghdad and organise new elections.

Goran deputies boycotted Tuesday’s session of parliament.

The mandate of Barzani, the first and only elected president of the autonomous Kurdish region, expired in 2013.

It was extended for two years and then continued in the chaos that followed the Islamic State group’s sweeping offensive across Iraq in 2014.

Under the autonomous region’s laws, it was Barzani who had set general elections for November 1.

However, Tuesday’s vote now means that parliament will decide the new electoral calendar, several parliamentarians said.

A month after scoring a major victory in the independence referendum, Barzani now finds himself increasingly isolated both at home and abroad.

The United States, a key ally of both Baghdad and Kurdish forces in the battle against IS, opposed the non-binding referendum on independence, as did nations including Iraq’s neighbours Iran and Turkey.

Tensions between Arbil and Baghdad show no sign of easing, with tit-for-tat arrest warrants being issued for politicians and military officials on both sides.

More than a week after the deadly battle for Kirkuk, a security official in Nineveh province bordering Turkey on Tuesday reported new clashes between Kurdish peshmerga fighters and paramilitary units that report to Baghdad.

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