ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region is set to head to the polls on Sunday to vote in its repeatedly-delayed parliamentary election with 1,191 candidates vying for a spot in the 100-seat legislature.
This voting cycle will be particularly interesting after changes were made to the election process and structure of the parliament, and a heated campaign that featured politicians taking tit-for-tat personal digs at each other and the controversial use of AI.
Political wrangling in the Kurdistan Region postponed the vote four times, with the election date originally scheduled for October 2022.
The legislature was downsized from 111 seats to 100 after a landmark Iraqi court ruling stripped the 11 seats reserved for ethnic and religious minorities. The court later reinstated a quota of five seats within the 100.
An ever-assertive Baghdad is also in charge of the voting process this time, as the now-defunct Kurdistan parliament failed to extend the mandate of the regional electoral commission, allowing Iraq’s federal Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to step in. The Kurdistan Region will also for the first time be divided into four constituencies - Erbil, Sulaimani, Duhok, and Halabja.
The election also comes with the Kurdistan Region reeling from financial woes that have crippled its legitimacy in the eyes of Baghdad, 19 months after Erbil was stripped of its ability to independently export oil after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara and effectively shut down the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline - the main channel exporting Kurdish oil abroad.
Here is a look at who are the main players contesting the vote.
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)
The KDP is the most powerful and oldest party in the Kurdistan Region. Founded in 1946 and led by Masoud Barzani, the former longtime president of the Region, it is expected to retain its position at the top. The “Yellow” party also holds the president and prime minister positions - roles currently filled by Nechirvan Barzani and Masrour Barzani, respectively.
In their final campaign rally on Tuesday, KDP leader Masoud Barzani stressed that the party “has always been number one” and called on supporters to turn up at the ballot box to ensure another victory. The KDP is fielding 190 candidates across all provinces - more than any other party.
Barzani suggested the finalization of a regional constitution would be the first task of the new parliament. Kurdish political parties have struggled for years to reach a consensus and draft a document detailing fundamental rights and principles, despite the Iraqi constitution allowing it.
When an Iraqi top court revoked the 11 seats assigned for ethnic and religious minorities in February, the KDP decided to boycott the elections, voicing concern about the minority quota being taken away by Baghdad. It decided to end the boycott in June after five minority seats were granted.
The KDP won the largest number of seats in the 2018 regional parliamentary elections - securing 45 out of 111 spots.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
The PUK was established in the 1970s by Jalal Talabani, a prominent Kurdish leader and the sixth president of Iraq. It is currently led by his son Bafel Talabani and is the KDP’s biggest rival. Also referred to as the “Green” party, it is dominant in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces.
The party has intensified its criticism of the KDP in recent months and its leader Talabani has promised better governance in the Kurdistan Region during rallies in Sulaimani as well as KDP strongholds Erbil and Duhok.
In his campaign speeches, Talabani has repeatedly criticized the lack of services in the Kurdistan Region, such as subpar electricity and the government’s failure to pay civil servants’ salaries on time and in full.
In Iraq, the PUK has recently achieved measurable success, such as the appointment of a Kurdish governor in the disputed city of Kirkuk and securing court victories in Baghdad that have changed the electoral law.
The PUK secured 21 seats in Kurdistan’s 2018 parliamentary elections and formed an alliance with the KDP to share power in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
For the upcoming election, the PUK is fielding 172 candidates.
Change Movement (Gorran)
Gorran is a pro-reform party founded in 2009 by a breakaway group of PUK members disgruntled with the parent party’s politics. They were led by the late Nawshirwan Mustafa and set out to be an opposition movement. They won 25 seats in the 2009 regional parliamentary vote and subsequently beat the PUK in the 2013 election cycle.
Once a major opposition force, Gorran lost popularity and fell into obscurity following several unpopular decisions, including alliances with the two ruling parties that alienated its base. Supporters saw Gorran turning away from its opposition and democratic roots, and the party failed to win any seats in Iraq’s 2021 parliamentary elections.
The movement has been mired in internal disputes over who should become its leader since the death of founder Mustafa. In September, then-leader Omar Sayyid Ali was banned from entering the movement’s headquarters in Sulaimani and he relinquished the role to the party’s current general coordinator, Dana Ahmed Majid.
In 2018, Gorran struck an agreement with both the KDP and PUK to form the KRG.
Gorran’s internal turmoil has affected its bid for votes, with the party campaigning the least and fielding one of the fewest numbers of candidates - 64 across all provinces.
New Generation Movement
The New Generation Movement is the Kurdistan Region’s most vocal opposition force. Formed by businessman Shaswar Abdulwahid to contest the 2018 regional elections, it won eight seats and went on to win another nine seats in the 2021 Iraqi parliamentary vote.
The Sulaimani-based party is likely to score the most votes outside of the KDP and PUK. In his final rally in Sulaimani, Abdulwahid promised the youth employment opportunities, residential units, and marriage stipends.
The party routinely supports anti-establishment protests in Erbil and Sulaimani and is known for its harsh criticism of the ruling parties. It is fielding 92 candidates.
People’s Front (Baray Gal)
Led by former PUK co-chair Lahur Talabany, Baray Gal is a new party contesting the election with 123 candidates. It was founded in January after Talabany gave up on his repeated futile legal attempts to regain his position as PUK co-chair.
Following years of disputing over who would succeed the late Jalal Talabani, Bafel Talabani and his cousin Lahur Talabany were elected as co-chairs of the PUK in February 2020.
Their internal issues resurfaced in 2021 when Bafel Talabani shuffled the leadership of the party’s intelligence and counter-terrorism units, affiliated with Lahur Talabany, and replaced them with people loyal to himself.
During his final campaign rally, Talabany pledged to combat corruption and restructure personal taxes. He also announced plans to develop Sulaimani’s infrastructure, including building sports stadiums and a new airport, and expressed his commitment to decentralizing administrative processes in the city.
A few days earlier on the campaign trail, Talabany told supporters in Erbil that only his party can “stand against” both the KDP and PUK.
National Stance Movement (Halwest)
The newly-established Halwest is led by Ali Hama Saleh, the popular and outspoken former leader of the Gorran faction in the Kurdistan parliament.
Halwest’s campaign strategy has largely focused on tackling corruption and economic reforms, including issues related to smuggling at border crossings between Sulaimani and Iran, an issue Saleh has been vocal about for several years.
In the 2013 regional vote, Saleh personally received more than 130,000 votes for Gorran - the highest number of votes for any single candidate.
Saleh’s significant popularity could tip his movement for a surprise result in the polls. Its chances are bolstered by the presence of high-profile journalists and activists such as Badal Barwari, one of the Badinan detainees and the head of Halwest’s list in Duhok province.
Halwest is contesting this election cycle with 72 candidates across the Region’s provinces.
Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU)
KIU is one of the two major Islamist parties in the Kurdistan Region. Founded and led by Salahaddin Bahaaddin in 1994, the party originally worked on proselytizing among Kurds and acted as fierce opposition to the established KDP.
It follows the Muslim Brotherhood school of thought and is largely considered its Kurdish franchise. The party has a strong support base in more rural areas of Halabja and Duhok province, where it is the second-strongest party.
Alongside combating corruption, the KIU has pledged to uphold conservative social values. It secured five seats in the 111-seat Kurdistan parliament in 2018 and is contesting the vote with 63 candidates.
Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal)
The second prominent Islamist party in the Kurdistan Region, Komal, formerly the Kurdistan Islamic Group, was established in 2001 after a group of young armed Islamists led by Ali Bapir splintered from the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK) following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003.
After splitting from the IMK and establishing Komal, Bapir stayed in the Halabja area adjacent to the Iranian border where extremists had established an Islamic state - the Islamic Emirate of Byara.
During a campaign rally in Sulaimani, Bapir called for governance based on Islamic principles and criticized the division of the Kurdistan Region into two “Yellow” and “Green” zones, referring to provinces under the KDP and PUK’s control.
In the 2018 regional parliamentary election, Komal secured seven seats. It has fielded 59 candidates this time around.
Kurdistan Islamic Movement (IMK)
The IMK is considered the mother of the Kurdistan Region’s Islamist parties. It has a low profile and a more extreme ideology in comparison with the KIU and Komal. Led by Erfan Ali Abdulaziz and headquartered in Halabja, it was founded in 1987 by mufti Osman Abdulaziz who famously declared jihad against former Iraqi dictator Hussein’s regime.
In the mid-1990s, a group of jihadists splintered from the IMK and formed Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish militant group that declared jihad against the Region’s secular parties and fought against the PUK, seizing several villages near Halabja. The militants were later pushed back by the PUK, with US support.
The party failed to secure any seats in the last regional elections and is fielding 35 candidates for the upcoming polls.
Iraqi Turkmen Front
The Iraqi Turkmen Front, led in Erbil by Aydin Maruf, the Kurdistan Region’s minister of state for minority affairs, is not competing for the five minority seats but rather the general seats. Maruf in March said that the Turkmen Front would compete in the regional election even in the absence of a minority quota.
The party has fielded 11 candidates in Erbil and none in Sulaimani or Duhok. An essential demand of the party has been to make Turkmen an official language in the Kurdistan Region.
The Turkmen Front is particularly active in politics in the disputed city of Kirkuk, repeatedly claiming that the city belongs to the Turkmen people.
In the Kurdistan Region’s last election, Maruf from the Turkmen Front won one of the five minority seats designated for the Turkmens at the time, before going on to become minister.
Minorities
Five seats out of the 100-seat Kurdistan parliament are assigned to minority communities this election cycle. The Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac Christian community and the Turkmens were allocated one seat each in Erbil and Sulaimani provinces, and the Christians were also given a seat in Duhok.
The nominally-Christian Babylon Movement, an Iran-backed party led by US-sanctioned Rayan al-Kildani and affiliated with Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is vying for all the Christian minority seats across the Kurdistan Region.
Babylon’s candidate is likely to secure a victory in Sulaimani, where it enjoys strong ties with the PUK, and it is strongly contesting for the Erbil seat.
The main competitor is Ramy Noori Syawish, the popular incumbent district mayor of Ankawa, a Christian-majority district situated at the northern edge of Erbil city.
Earlier this month, a member of the influential Assyrian Democratic Movement (Zowaa) politburo and former Kurdistan MP said he expects most Christians to skip the vote, with most major Christian parties boycotting the polls.
“They [the Christians] have had their rights taken away by the federal quota and are oppressed by the minority quota. We do not believe they will participate in the elections,” Srud Maqdasy told Rudaw English.
Winning minority candidates with external party affiliations often receive tens of thousands of votes from districts where the community has minimal to no presence, as big parties often mobilize scores of supporters to tip these candidates over the line in exchange for their loyalty in parliament.
The main candidate for the Turkmen quota seat in Erbil is Muna Kahveci from the Turkmen Reform Party. A former deputy speaker of the legislature, she echoed the Turkmen Front’s intentions to make Turkmen an official language in the Kurdistan Region.
A total of 38 candidates are contesting for the minority quota - 20 Turkmen candidates and 18 Christian.
Others and independents
A number of other parties and alliances are running for the polls, including the Kurdistan Region Alliance and the Sardam Alliance, as well as several independent candidates.
The Kurdistan Region Alliance, led by veteran Peshmerga Mohammed Haji Mahmoud, consists of the Kurdistan Social Democratic Party (KSDP), the Kurdistan Communist Party, and the Kurdistan Toilers’ Party. It has fielded 84 candidates across all four provinces.
The Sardam Alliance is composed of the Kurdistan Laborers’ Party (PRK), the Democratic National Union of Kurdistan (YNDK), and the Kurdistan Conservative Party. It is led by Mohammed’s brother Abdullah Haji Mahmoud, the Kurdistan Region’s Martyrs and Anfal Affairs Minister. The alliance is contesting the vote with 41 candidates.
The National Coalition, led by Aram Qadir, is contesting with 59 candidates. It was founded in 2018 by Barham Salih, a veteran PUK politician, former Iraqi president, and Kurdistan Region prime minister. Salih left the party shortly after establishing it and returned to the PUK after being nominated as its candidate for the Iraqi presidency.
None of the aforementioned parties and alliances are likely to secure a seat.
Several independent candidates are also vying for a seat in the legislature, including social media figure and comedian Sherzad Abdulwahab, better known as Mama Vandam (Uncle Van Damme).
Writer and painter Farhad Pirbal is also running as an independent. He holds a doctorate in the history of Kurdish literature from Sorbonne University in Paris and has been a lecturer at Salahaddin University in Erbil since 1994. He is known for his fiery statements and strong Kurdish nationalist sentiments.