Gorran will stay in opposition

News from The Kurdistan Tribune:

In a meeting with Gorran’s (the Change movement’s) activists and delegates of its organs (councils, rooms, and fractions) on Wednesday afternoon, 14 February, the General Coordinator Nawshirwan Mustafa discussed the power exchanges currently taking place with the parliamentary leadership, council of ministers and vice president.

The participants reiterated that Gorran’s stance is to remain in opposition and oppose the regional political system, in an attempt to bring about the implementation of radical reforms in the region’s political culture, society and economy.

In relation to the changes that are currently taking place in the parliamentary leadership, it was reiterated that a change of speaker and his deputy, without changes to the parliament’s internal rules and limiting the speaker’s power, is only a change of faces and does not benefit the parliament institution because the leadership posts are based on the strategic agreement between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. According to this agreement, which the ruling parties made before the last election, the parliamentary leadership is being shared between them: two years each.

With regards to the nomination of prime minister and his deputy to lead the seventh cabinet, the participants reiterated that this process is the same as before, only to change the faces and hence there are no differences between this cabinet and the last one. Both ruling parties have formally declared that the seventh cabinet is a continuation of the sixth cabinet and the exchange between the elite is based on their strategic agreement.

The participants also referred to the appointment of the vice president as a matter not concerning parliament: hence the president has been elected directly by the public and not parliament. Returning this matter to parliament requires the abrogation of the regional presidency law as it would not be appropriate to have half of the institutions established through the presidential system and the other half through the parliamentary system.

The meeting took place at Gorran’s headquarters and all participants on behalf of the movement’s fractions, councils and rooms made their views known. They also reiterated that it is vital to further develop the balanced cooperation between all three opposition parties.