ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) announced that the party’s congress will be held in the upcoming days, a senior party official told Rudaw on Wednesday.
“All the preparations of the Kurdistan Islamic Union have been completed, and on Friday and Saturday, which correspond to December 27 and 28, 2024, the congress will be held,” Hadi Ali, chief of KIU’s leadership council, told Rudaw.
Ali said that party members have selected more than 800 people to participate in the party’s ninth congress.
Mohammad Rauf, a member of the KIU’s leadership council, told Rudaw that there has been an attempt by congress members to amend the party’s bylaw which limits the party leader to only two terms in office.
KIU leader Salahaddin Bahaddin has been the leader of the party since its inception, apart from a short period from 2014 to 2018, when he stepped down from the position.
“Since they have amended the article [from the bylaw] which allows two terms for the Secretary [party leader]... this tells us that around 90-95 percent of [the members] aim for Mr Salahaddin to become the leader one more time, which is why until now I have not heard any other names being suggested,” Rauf added.
The KIU, when first founded in 1994 during the chaos of the Kurdish civil war, worked on proselytizing work among Kurds and acted as fierce opposition to the established Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). It is linked to the global Muslim Brotherhood movement, and it is largely considered its Kurdish franchise.
The KIU won seven seats in the last parliamentary elections. It is one of several parties that has criticized the vote as rigged. The party said it will remain in opposition and decline a role in government formation
