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By Arian Mufid:
Since the Gorran movement was expelled by the KDP from the Kurdistan parliament in October 2015 it has never recovered. Gorran’s MPs and their ministers left Erbil and have never returned to their senses.
Gorran has been in a long-term struggle with the KDP; it seems to me as though Gorran was born to defeat the ideas and essence of the KDP.
The main objectives of Gorran have been to try and enforce the presidential time limit and enact some constitutional changes. The death of Nawshirwan Mustafa Amin in May 2017 has left the party poorer and weaker. Observers believed in the salvation of Gorran if only it could quickly choose a suitable new leader and not leave a political vacuum. However, the disagreements within the movement over the leadership have been so bitter that they sparked a lot of feuds. Consequently the national executive council couldn’t reach an agreement to choose a young leader from the stream of change that has flowed since 2009. Instead Aumar Sayd Ali was elected leader. He is 71, showing the people outside Gorran that the movement cannot make good decisions. The man is too old to lead the party into the next general election. Gorran has failed to take this opportunity to bring forward a young leader. It has also failed to unite the party. Gorran risks being led in the wrong direction by its old new leadership. Consequently it isn’t up to the challenge and has proved too weak to resolve the current crisis in Kurdish politics.
Gorran has proved incapable of salvaging its campaign to reach a political agreement with the KDP to restore the Kurdistan parliament. A few weeks ago there was a new call by both the KDP and the PUK to restore the Kurdistan parliament and to vote on the holding of the referendum on independence which is due to take place on 25 September. Yesterday the Kurdish parliament opened its doors and the Gorran movement didn’t show up. It refused to go back into the political arena in Erbil although the KDP has imposed no conditions on Gorran’s participation. For the last two months the new Gorran leader has failed to bring any progress to the political situation in the south of Kurdistan. Despite attempts at mediation by the PUK and the US administration, the situation has deteriorated and it is generating increasing anger among Gorran’s followers. Reports coming from sources inside the movement indicate that Gorran has split into several factions and is even more divided now than the PUK.
Finally, Gorran is a party without a leader and it has failed to put forward a positive plan for the future. It has also failed to notice the surge in support for the referendum among the Kurdish people, because its political approach lacks both vision and realism. The Gorran movement needs a conference immediately to elect a new leadership and review the programme of the party.
