Nechirvan Barzani is Kurdistan presidential candidate of KDP, PUK, Gorran: MP
Omed Khoshnaw, the head of KDP caucus, Iraqi Kurdistan, May 2019. Photo: Screenshot/Kurdistan TV
HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Current Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani is the presidential candidate for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and Change Movement (Gorran), the head of KDP caucus said.
KDP caucus head Omed Khoshnaw said in an interview with Voice of America published on Tuesday that Barzani has the pledged support of 91 of the 111 lawmakers in the Kurdistan Parliament.
Together the three parties have 78 seats, which suggests that the 11 MPs holding seats reserved for ethnic and religious minorities, and the single MPs from the Sardam Alliance and the Azadi List (Kurdistan Communist Party) have given their support to Barazani as well.
The KDP would like the other parties to field their own candidates for the presidency because it is a democratic process, he added.
“The Kurdistan Parliament will convene to elect Kurdistan Region’s president after legal measures are done. I think it will be between May 20 and 25,” he said.
The Kurdistan Parliament opened the three-day nomination period on Sunday.
On Sunday, Deputy head of the New Generation Movement caucus in the Kurdistan Parliament Kawa Abdulqadir said the Movement, the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG), and the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) caucuses were in talks to select a joint candidate for President of the Kurdistan Region.
However, on Monday, the KIG caucus in the Kurdistan parliament said that it would neither field a candidate for President, nor would it vote for KDP candidate because it did not want to lend legitimacy to the process.
On May 6, the Kurdistan Parliament approved legislation that reactivates the Kurdistan Region’s Presidency.
In December 2018, the leadership of the clan-based Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has nominated 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.
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 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.
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