ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal) on Saturday launched its campaign for Iraq’s parliamentary elections. Party leader Ali Bapir called for unity, tolerance, and Islamic values as the foundations for political cooperation and reform.

“In the Kurdistan Region, we greatly need unity, mutual respect, to build each other, not destroy each other. All of these are taught to us by Islam and the Quran,” Bapir said during the campaign rally in Sulaimani.

Komal is the second largest Islamist party after the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU). It is fielding 14 candidates for the November vote - five in Erbil, five in Sulaimani, and four in Duhok. The party does not have any candidates in Kirkuk or Halabja.

The Islamist party, which has previously participated in Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinets, has faced political setbacks in recent years. It won one seat in Iraq’s 2021 parliamentary elections and two in last October’s Kurdistan Region parliamentary vote.

Bapir said that honesty and transparency define the party’s political approach: “The tradition of our union is to be truthful with you, just as it has come in our slogan - the union is truth and truthfulness.”

He said that the party will continue to participate in elections as long as the process remains fair.

“If we know that a parliament is designed for manipulation, we don’t participate and boycott it,” Bapir said, warning that Komal “will not take part if it is rigged like before.”

Komal alleged voter fraud in last year’s regional parliamentary election.

The party was established by Bapir, a longtime commander of the Islamic Movement in Kurdistan, an umbrella group of Islamic political forces formed in 1987. It sought territorial control of parts of the Kurdistan Region with the aim of implementing Islamic law (Sharia). In 2021, the party changed its name, dropping the word Islamic.