This is the first time the head of the autonomous region will be elected by popular vote, writes MICHAEL JANSEN.
SOME 2½ million Kurds in northern Iraq go to the polls today to choose a new parliament and president, the first election to seriously contest the dominance of their traditional leaders.
To face this challenge and maintain their grip on the Kurdish autonomous region, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) led by Massoud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) under Iraq’s national president Jalal Talabani have formed the joint Kurdistan List.
Its chief rival is the leftist “Change” list of PUK dissident Nawshirwan Mustafa. Change is loosely allied to the Kurdish Islamic Party.
There are 567 candidates on 24 lists standing for the 100 open seats in the assembly, one-third of which are reserved for women. An additional 11 seats are allocated to the Turkoman and Chaldean Christian minorities. Mr Barzani, the regional president, is also facing five independent rivals, including two former PUK figures, among them Mr Talabani’s brother-in-law. This is the first time the regional president will be elected by popular vote.
The campaign has been marred by violence between Change and the disintegrating PUK, the more liberal and progressive partner in the ruling bloc. The KDP, an authoritarian tribal and clan-based movement, has maintained its unity and integrity.
Monitors claim violations of the election laws, particularly by the ruling KDP-PUK bloc, which is accused of brandishing weapons at rallies, threatening government servants if they vote for the opposition, and buying votes.
Since the mid-1990s when the KDP and PUK reached a modus vivendi after a bout of fighting, the parties have shared power by dividing the Kurdish region geographically, with the KDP ruling Irbil and Dohuk provinces and the PUK running the affairs of Suleimaniya.
The arrangement has placed the 17 per cent Kurdish share in the Iraqi national budget in the hands of the Barzani and Talibani groups, enriching them and their supporters at the expense of the mass of poor Kurds who are struggling to survive. Consequently, nepotism, corruption, unemployment, mismanagement and low wages are the issues that dominated the campaign.
The ruling bloc, expected to win with a reduced majority, is under strong pressure to democratise and provide accountable and transparent governance. Such a transformation is unlikely, because the Kurdish region has always been run as separate fiefdoms by the Barzanis and Talabanis.
Unless the PUK is able to stem defections by its leading figures and reassert itself, the partnership with the KDP could weaken or dissolve at a time when the Kurdish leadership is facing a strong challenge from Baghdad.
The central government seeks to reverse the Kurds’ drive to occupy and annex territory in the three provinces adjoining the Kurdish region. Arab and Turkoman residents of these provinces are prepared to use force to oppose the Kurds’ plans, thereby precipitating civil war in northern Iraq. Fearing intercommunal clashes, a referendum to approve a constitution for the Kurdish region has been postponed.