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Electing Kurdistan president in parliament not victory, benefits KDP: Gorran senior official

Electing Kurdistan president in parliament not victory benefits KDP Gorran senior official
Electing Kurdistan president in parliament not victory, benefits KDP: Gorran senior official

2019-04-04 00:00:00 - Source: Iraq News

Salih Zhazhlai, deputy head of the Change (Gorran) Movement public assembly, Iraqi Kurdistan, 2019. Photo: VOA

SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Deputy Head of the Change (Gorran) Movement Public Assembly Salih Zhazhlai said on Wednesday that achieving the appearance of parliamentary supremacy by electing Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s president in the legislature was not the victory it once would have represented.

Zhazhlai told Voice of America that because the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) holds a strong plurality in Parliament, it is unlikely that anything will pass without the party’s consent.

In December 2018, the leadership of the clan-based KDP party has nominated current Iraqi Kurdistan Region premier Nechirvan Barzani to succeed his uncle, ex-president and KDP head Massoud Barzani, as president of Iraqi Kurdistan, and Massoud Barzani’s son Masrour as premier of the Kurdistan regional government KRG.

Gorran has consistently supported a parliamentary system in the Kurdistan Region, rather than a presidential one. In past elections, however, the party was much closer to parity with the KDP in terms of seats in the legislature.

“The KDP has persuaded us, but it benefits them,” Zhazhlai told Voice of America.

Zhazhlai also addressed the news of an agreement between the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) for the latter to join the government.

“If the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan did not take part in the government, nothing would remain as the Kurdistan Region… it would no longer have meaning if just KDP and [Gorran] form the government without the PUK. Maybe Turkey, Iran, and other countries would be happy because the Kurdistan Region would no longer be as robust,” he said.

On Wednesday, the Kurdistan Parliament completed the second reading of a joint KDP-Gorran bill that would reactivate the presidency law.

It will be voted on in the near future, according to lawmakers.

On February 18, the Change Movement (Gorran) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) signed a political agreement at Pirmam resort in Erbil.

In March 2019, the Gorran bloc head Ali Hama Salih said at the conference “what was really important for us was that we wanted the president to be elected by MPs, not through a popular vote. And that it is fixed in the bill.” Rudaw reported.

Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | nrttv.com

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