Two British Kurdish politicians, Conservative candidate Nadhim Zahawi (R) and Labour Party candidate Feryal Clark, were both elected in UK elections, December 2019. Photo: Ekurd.net/gov.uk/Clark’s FB
LONDON,— Two British Kurdish politicians, Conservative candidate Nadhim Zahawi and Labour Party candidate Feryal Clark, were both elected in Thursday’s UK elections, according to final vote tallies.
Two other Kurdish candidates that ran failed to be elected.
The millionaire Zahawi, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stratford-on-Avon since 2010 was re-elected with more than 60 percent of the vote – 33,343 votes compared with 13,371 for the Liberal Democrats Dominic Skinner, who came second.
The returning lawmaker has had a strong relationship with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the past and recently praised the appointment of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in July 2019.
Zahawi is involved in doing oil business with Barzani family. Zahawi joined Gulf Keystone in July 2015. As chief strategy officer he earns a monthly salary of £20,125 – over £240,000 a year. He has also been receiving regular bonus payments of up to £26,000 for advising the company.
Zahawi has a close and long-term relationship with Ashti Hawrami, the former minister of natural resources in Iraqi Kurdistan and current assistant prime minister for energy affairs, who is routinely accused of illegal oil activities.
Clark, an Alevi Kurd from Turkish Kurdistan, from the city of Malatya, was elected with 51.8 percent of the vote and a total of 23,340 ballots cast in Enfield North, which has a large Kurdish community.
“Thank you Enfield North for putting your trust in me,” she tweeted.
“I am very happy that I became the first Labour Party Kurdish MP in the UK,” Clark told reporters after her win.
On the other hand, Labour candidate and the British Kurdish mayor of South London Ibrahim Dogu? and Liberal Democrats candidate Kaweh Beheshtizade were less successful.
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