Kurdistan Alliance set for Iraqi provincial elections; list of candidates settled
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – An alliance of Kurdish parties has settled on their list of candidates for the upcoming Iraqi provincial elections, the head of the alliance said during a press conference on Monday.
The vote is set to be held on April 1, 2020, to elect local governments for all provinces except the four within the Kurdistan Region, which holds its own local elections.
Named the Kurdistan Alliance, the coalition of Kurdish political parties was first announced by the spokesperson of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in late September. The alliance contains 30 political parties and entities.
The alliance will be participating in provincial council elections for three provinces that have a large Kurdish population, including Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Diyala. Each have areas that are disputed between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal Iraqi government.
The logo of the Kurdistan Alliance has also been decided upon, Abdul Rahman Mustafa, the head of the alliance, said during the press briefing. He added that for each province, they have twice as many candidates as there are seats on the local council.
As per the number of council seats in each province, the Kurdistan Alliance will have 26 candidates for Kirkuk and Diyala and 48 names contending the race in Nineveh Province.
The press conference also brought up the recent controversial amendment to the provincial election law, which prevents internally displaced persons (IDPs) from voting at camps where they reside or anywhere other than their original hometowns, many of which they say are still unsafe or lack basic services.
The amendment was approved after the Iraqi Parliament voted on and passed the bill in July and was opposed by Kurdish parties.
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Mustafa said Supreme Court is set to review the many appeals on the bill brought forth by Kurdish parties, as well as the Kurdistan Region Parliament, on November 18.
The last provincial election took place in 2013. The next one was planned for 2016 but was canceled after the so-called Islamic State took control of over a third of the country. Iraqi authorities eventually agreed to hold them on April 1, 2020.
Most of the disputed territories have been under the control of the federal government since in October 2017 when Iraqi forces and Shia militias attacked and took over Kirkuk and other contested areas, driving out the Kurdish Peshmerga forces. This came in response to the Kurdistan Region's independence referendum held the month before.
The upcoming provincial election will be the first to be held since the military defeat of the Islamic State.
Editing by Nadia Riva