Nechirvan Barzani elected president of Iraqi Kurdistan, amid boycott
Nechirvan Barzani, Iraqi Kurdistan Prime minister, Erbil, March 8, 2019. Photo: KRG
HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Lawmakers in Kurdistan parliament elected Nechirvan Barzani as president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a spokesman for the regional parliament told Reuters on Tuesday.
Barzani, who had been serving as regional prime minister, won 68 votes from the 81 lawmakers present. The regional legislature has 111 seats in total.
The other four candidates Omed Abdulsalam Qadir, Mohammed Hama Salih Omer, Rebwar Aziz Mostafa, and Hiwa Abdulla Khidr secured zero votes.
He is the nephew of the previous and only other holder of the office, Massoud Barzani. Nechirvan will step down as prime minister to assume the role.
In mid-June, the president-elect is expected to ask his cousin, Masrour Barzani, to form the new cabinet.
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.
However, the proceedings were boycotted by the region’s second-biggest party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and two small parties, because of a rift between the main political forces in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The two parties are at odds over several key positions in the regional government.
The New Generation Movement and PUK caucuses boycotted the Kurdistan parliamentary session.
Member of New Generation caucus Mam Burhan Qani said in a press conference that the presidency law does not serve democracy and parliamentary system in the region.
“The law was passed without the principles that should have been in the law. So we will not participate in today’s parliamentary session,” he added.
Meanwhile, PUK Politburo released a statement saying its caucus would not participate in the session.
“The Kurdistan Democratic Party [KDP] has not stepped any to implement our agreements with it. The KDP always makes obstacles for the nomination of a governor from PUK [as we have agreed on],” the statement read.
“Thus, we tell our public the unilateral policy won’t have a good consequence … We wanted to work as one team in the Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad, but the KDP has made problems implement the agreements with the PUK, and it hasn’t committed to it. The PUK caucus won’t participate in today’s parliamentary election.”
KDP caucus said the party’s agreement with PUK could be affected after the PUK caucus boycotted the session.
“The non-participation of the PUK caucus in the session will leave effect on all of our agreements,” and would have “negative consequences” head of KDP caucus Omed Khoshnaw said in a press conference.
“The process will not stop. We elected the president and we will form the government,” he said.
Iraqi Kurdistan is not unified region, it is divided politically and geographically between the KDP led by Massoud Barzani and PUK led by the Talabani’s clan.
On May 6, the Kurdistan Parliament approved legislation that reactivates the Kurdistan Region’s Presidency.
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.
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.
Massoud Barzani and his clan have been routinely accused by critics of amassing huge wealth from oil business for his family instead of serving the population.
The Barzanis control a large number of commercial enterprises in Kurdistan-Iraq, with a gross value of several billion US dollars. The family is routinely accused of corruption and nepotism by Kurdish media as well as international observers.
(With files from Reuters | nrttv.com | rudaw.net)
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