Massoud Barzani criticizes Allawi’s Iraqi government formation approach

2020-02-26 00:00:00 - Source: Iraq News

KDP party leader Massoud Barzani in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: AFP

HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani said on Tuesday that his party rejected Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi’s approach to forming a new government, calling it a “political game.”

“The Kurds, Sunnis, and most of the Shias do not agree with the way the new prime minister-designate is choosing his candidates. It is a clear breach in constitutional rights and Allawi will not succeed,” Barzani said.

“The way in front of Allawi is harsh. If he can form a cabinet without the Kurds and Sunnis, then congratulations to him,” Barzani added.

The parties in Kurdistan Region continue to be at odds with prime minister-designate, accusing him of failing to deal with the Region as a constitutional entity. The KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in particular have been vocal about wanting to have the final say over Kurdish ministerial candidates.

On Monday, the Kurdistan’s senior political leadership met with the parties’ negotiating delegation in Erbil. In a readout of the meeting released by the Kurdistan Parliament, the officials declared that the steps taken by Allawi “far have not earned the trust of many Iraqi parties and communities” and called on him to revise his plans in a way that would be more broadly acceptable.

“We insist on protecting the constitutional entity of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and all its constitutional rights including the disputed areas. The Kurdistani communities and the Kurdistan Region’s official institutions are the only legitimate bodies that can designate the representatives of the Kurdistan Region to the Iraqi federal government,” the readout also said.

Shaswar Abdulwahid, the leader of the New Generation (Newey Nwê) Movement, Sulaimani, Iraqi Kurdistan, January 15, 2019. Photo: NRT TV

Shaswar Abdulwahid the Kurdish opposition leader of New Generation, however, criticized the demands of the KDP and the PUK, arguing that they were interested mostly in gaining partisan leverage.

“The two ruling families (Barzani and Talabani) do not represent the Kurdish people, they only acquired two million votes out of six million voters in the last elections, despite the fraud,” Abdulwahid said in a tweet.

Abdulwahid said in a separate tweet that the Movement will support a government that is approved of by the people and not the parties.

“New Generation as a part of the Kurdish street that 65% of the voters did not vote in the elections. We support the formation of the new cabinet, a cabinet that represents the peoples demands and is far away from the political parties, including those Kurdish parties that used fraud and are fake in their representation of the Kurdish nation,” Abdulwahid said.

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