A delegation from the two ruling parties, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Democrstic Party (KDP), has visited the headquarters of the Gorran movement. The main purpose for this visit was to ask the opposition party to agree to a delay to the Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections (due to be held before the end…
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Category Archives: KDP
PUK dithers over break with KDP
KT News and Comment: Recently the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) announced that it would stand independently from the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) in the general elections to the Kurdistan Region’s parliament that are meant to be held before the end of July. Today, however, Azad Jundiany a PUK politburo member and press spokesman, issued…
The upcoming KRG elections: Possibilities for changes in power and political scenarios
By Kamal Chomani: Although the date for the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) elections has not been set, given that the last elections were held on July 25, 2009, the next ones should be held by July 25, 2013. These might be completely different to previous elections held by the KRG. For the first time,…
PUK will stand on its own in the next elections
KT News: At the latest meeting between the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) and KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) politburos, these two ruling parties decided to abandon their electoral alliance and stand against each other in the general elections to the Kurdistan parliament. The decision followed recent speeches and criticisms, raised especially within the PUK, whose…
25 years on from the Saddamist atrocity, the people of Halabja are still suffering
By Mufid Abdulla: Today it is 25 years since Halabja was attacked with chemical weapons, causing the sacrifice of 5,000 lives. The world has come to know of their plight but, a quarter-century on, the survivors are still struggling to find their identity and come to terms with this tragedy. In the wake of the…
Opposition calls for parliamentary elections date
KT News and Comment: The Opposition is asking for the Kurdistan Region’s two ruling parties to announce a date for parliamentary general elections. This should by 25 July because these elections are meant to be held every four years. However, due to the political uncertainties facing the two ruling parties, it seems highly possible they will…
President Barzani’s quest for hegemony: Insisting on a presidential system as an example
By Kamal Chomani: There is near unanimous support for changing the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) semi-presidential system to a parliamentary system. The proposal is backed by the three main opposition parties – the Gorran Movement, Islamic Union and Islamic Group – and by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), as one of the two ruling…
5 KDP members jailed for burning KIU office
KT News and Comment: Five members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) were yesterday sentenced to two years in jail each for participating in the burning of the Kurdistan Islamic Union’s (KIU) offices in Zakho last year. The same Dohuk court hearing found another 27 KDP members not guilty and released them. These sentences are the…
Relatives of Kurdistan civil war’s missing victims demand the truth
KT News and Comment: The fall-out from the 1990s civil war between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – waged, on opposite sides, by the current presidents of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq – continues to add salt to the victims’ wounds. Although the exact number of the casualties…
Majority voice or the voice of oppressor?
By Diyar Aziz Shareef: Is majority rule a function of democracy, a technique to promote the public interest or, on the contrary, is it a tool to fulfill the interests of a political minority? Can the Kurdistan parliament be able to live up to its name (as the ‘people’s council’) if it is permanently dominated…
Kurdistan’s ‘$265 million’ National Security Council: Nepotism not good governance
By Michael Rubin: While Kurdish officials often describe the Iraqi Kurdistan region as a democracy, both the region’s reputation and its democratic trajectory took a huge leap backwards last week with President Barzani’s creation by fiat of the National Security Council. Bookmark on Delicious Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Tweet about it Subscribe to…
Opposition calls for dissolution of KRG National Security Council
News from KT: The three main opposition parties in the Kurdistan Region have called for the dissolution of the National Security Council set up this weekend by the governing Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The opposition has called on the ruling parties to bring the matter before the Kurdistan parliament….
Kurdistan heads towards a totalitarian regime
By Kamal Chomani: Announcing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) National Security Council was the last nail in the coffin of Kurdistan’s democracy and claims of reform. Alas, what the hell is going on in Kurdistan politics? The danger of any totalitarian regimes is that they shape rules and state institutions to legalize their undemocratic plans…
