NG, KIG and KIU in talks to nominate a candidate for Kurdistan president

2019-05-13 00:00:00 - Source: Iraq News

Iraqi Kurdistan parliament. Photo: Rudaw

SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— The New Generation Movement, the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG), and the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) caucuses are in talks to select a joint candidate for President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

That person would face the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) candidate, Nechirvan Barzani, who is the only person nominated so far.

Deputy head of the New Generation Movement caucus in the Kurdistan Parliament Kawa Abdulqadir said on Sunday that the three opposition groups believe that the contest should not merely be a coordination for Barzani.

“We have talked with the KIG and KIU about that,” Abdulqadir said.

Kurdistan parliament opened a three-day window, will end on May 15, for those wanting to run for the presidency to submit their candidacy. Once the parliament receives all the applications, it will announce the names in two days. Then, parties will have three days to appeal the names.

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Sarko Azad lawmaker said that party believes that it will be allocated a vice presidency position and so the party plans to vote for Barzani for president.

On May 6, the Kurdistan Parliament approved legislation that reactivates the Kurdistan Region’s Presidency.

The incumbent Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Nechirvan Barzani will “as soon as possible” submit his resume to the parliament for the position of the president, while an Islamic party MP and an “independent” lawyer will also enter the race, Rudaw reported.

The election of Nechirvan Barzani, 52, as the president is anticipated to occur next week as he is the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) — the largest party in the Kurdistan Region — candidate for the post.

Additionally the KDP reached a deal to secure the support of the PUK and the Change Movement’s (Gorran) last week.

Hevidar Ahmed, a member of the KDP bloc believes other than Barzani no one else will run for the president.

“It seems no other party will have a candidate to stand against Nechirvan Barzani,” Ahmed said, saying Barzani has an outright majority support following the KDP-PUK-Gorran agreement.

Ahmed believes the post of the president is certainly for his party’s candidate “as the result is clear already.”

“Whether or not there is another candidate, next week Nechirvan Barzani will be elected president,” he said, adding Barzani “as soon as possible” will submit his resume.

The post was previously held from 2005 to 2017 by Masoud Barzani, who stepped down in the aftermath of the controversial and ill-fated Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum.

Need to be mentioned that on August 20, 2015 Barzani’s term as president of Kurdistan has expired but he refused to step down and remains unofficially in office for more than two years despite protests and demonstration against Barzani across Kurdistan region. He also closed the parliament and prevented speaker from entering Erbil.

In December 2018, the leadership of the clan-based Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) 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.

In September 2018, the autonomous Kurdistan Region held its parliamentary election, with parties competing for 111 seats in total. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) won the election by securing 45 seats and was followed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with 21 seats and Gorran (Change) with 12.

Iraq News Now