Kurdistan in negotiations to form next Iraqi government

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CONGRATULATIONS

To the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has emerged from Iraq's October parliamentary elections as the biggest party in Iraq following the Iraqi Independent High Election Commission's (IHEC) preliminary counting of all the votes

The KDP participated in the elections as a single party, not as part of any coalition, and won the most seats as a single party, making it the biggest single political party in all of Iraq.

The Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's list won 73 seats in the election, but that included a number of different parties and politicians.

The KDP Politburo intends to meet with other political parties in the Kurdistan Region to discuss the formation of the next Iraqi government and unity among them in Baghdad.

"Although the KDP is the winner of the elections, it will continue seeking the unification of the Kurdish voice in Baghdad," Blend Ismail, KDP Leadership Council member, told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday. "The Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani is going to call up the political parties soon."

Ismail stressed that the Kurds will keep the Iraqi presidency.

"The Kurdish political parties will compromise over which one of them will get the position," he said.

In a related development, Khamis al-Khanjar, the leader of the Sunni al-Azim alliance, visited KDP President Masoud Barzani in the Kurdistan Region capital in Erbil on Sunday. The two leaders discussed the post-election stage and expressed their hope that the election results will help stabilize the country and fix its troubled political process.

A survey conducted just before the elections by Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies found that the KDP would most likely remain the largest party in Iraq. Al-Bayan telephoned citizens in each of Iraq's 19 provinces for the survey and concluded that only three coalitions (not individual political parties) were larger than the leading Kurdish party.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/25 ... ty-in-Iraq

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Preliminary election results

Iraq’s electoral commission late on Saturday announced the final preliminary results in the parliamentary election following the manual count of polling stations that were not electrically counted due to technical issues. Parties have the option to file complaints about the updated results

The manual count resulted in some changes, with some parties and blocs increasing their seats by a few spots at the expense of others in the 329-seat legislature.

The results across the country, based on a Rudaw tally of vote data released by the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), are as follows:

Sadrist bloc - 72
Taqadum - 37
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) - 33
State of Law Coalition - 33
Kurdistan Coalition - 16
Fatih Alliance - 15
Azm Alliance - 13
New Generation - 9
Emtidad Movement - 9
Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) - 4
National State Forces Alliance - 4
Kurdistan Justice Group - 1
Independents - 35
Others - 39
Minority quotas - 9

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) gained a seat in Duhok, increasing their total from 32 to 33, and taking a seat from the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU).

The leading Sadrist bloc lost three seats, decreasing their total from 75 to 72. The National State Forces Alliance between former prime minister Haider al-Abadi and Shiite cleric Ammar al-Hakim also lost two of its seats.

IHEC started a manual count of over 8,000 polling stations on Tuesday after the partial preliminary results handed out unexpected victories and devastating blows to political parties and blocs.

The commission on Friday said that they are investigating 356 complaints and will announce final election results after all complaints have been resolved.

Several parties have alleged fraud and threatened protests, pushing President Barham Salih and head of the Supreme Judicial Council Fayaq Zidan to issue a statement calling for calm.

Once the results are ratified by the Supreme Court, a process of forming the government will take motion, as dictated by the constitution. Within 15 days of the ratification of the results, the president will call for a parliamentary meeting chaired by its eldest member to elect a speaker and two deputies by an absolute majority. The parliament also elects a president by a two-thirds majority.

The president will then task the largest bloc in the parliament with forming the government, naming a prime minister within 15 days of the election of the president. The prime minister-elect then has 30 days to name a cabinet.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/17102021

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Negotiations for next Iraqi government

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Ten days after Iraqi parliamentary elections, officials from the autonomous Kurdistan Region told Kurdistan 24 that they intend to focus a significant amount of effort on the status of Kurdish Peshmerga forces in negotiations to form the new federal government

Central to this would be granting the Peshmerga a clear mandate as an official part of the Iraqi defense apparatus and for federal funds allotted to them to be disbursed consistently and fully, something that Baghdad has often blocked over the past several years.

Multiple agreements between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KFG) and successive federal administrations have broken down, notably those that involved policies related to the Peshmerga.

The Director of Information and National Awareness in the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, Brigadier Othman Mohammed, told Kurdistan 24 that although "some chauvinist voices" often cast the Peshmerga as "militias," they are, in fact, an official force under the federal government.

In a separate interview with Kurdistan 24, the head of the Peshmerga Committee in the Kurdistan Parliament, Revenk Haruri, argued that several agreements since 2005 have been reached between Erbil and Baghdad regarding the rights and financial dues of the Peshmerga, but have not been effectively implemented them so far.

He stressed that the ministry "demands that its rights and financial dues" be a major subject of negotiations between Erbil and Baghdad as part of the extended horsetrading that occurs between Iraqi national elections and the usually delayed formation of the next government.

Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced the final preliminary results of Iraq’s early parliamentary elections on Oct. 16. Iran-backed Shia parties lost a large number of seats compared to the 2018 election.

As a result, leaders of these parties, their supporters, and militias took to the streets of Baghdad, demanding a recount of the vote and accusing the electoral commission of "playing with the results."

Read More: Peshmerga warns of rising ISIS threat in post-election Iraq

Peshmerga Ministry Spokesperson Colonel Osman Mohammad told Kurdistan 24 on Wednesday, "It is during these times that ISIS can and is willing to pose threats in those areas in which it wants to do so."

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/25 ... government

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Pro-Iran protesters reject election result

Hundreds of protesters affiliated to the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hash al-Shaabi) took to the streets in Iraq's capital on Friday, rejecting the outcome of the October 10 parliamentary elections and storming Baghdad’s Green Zone, which includes government offices and the US embassy building

The Iraqi Health Ministry said that 125 people were injured in Friday’s protests: 27 protesters and 98 members of the security forces. “No injury was due to live ammunition and no deaths have been reported,” they announced this evening.

Protesters held slogans against the Iraqi government and the electoral commission, claiming that the vote was rigged and rejecting last month’s results. “We will not allow you to steal our votes,” read a placard with a portrait of Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi and a cross on his face.

Muqtada al-Sadr, Shiite cleric and leader of the top-performing Sadrist Movement which gained over 70 seats in October’s election, called on protesters to reject violence and warned that the reputation of Hashd “should not be tarnished” by resorting to physical protest.

“Peaceful demonstrations should not be turned into demonstrations of violence and belittle the state, and the state should not use violence against peaceful protesters,” he said in a statement posted on Friday.

The preliminary results of the election were released days after the vote, with the Hashd-affiliated political parties performing poorly. Most notably, the Fatih Alliance has emerged as one of the major losers in the parliamentary election, seeing its parliamentary seats reduced by two thirds.

Previously, the parties issued statements rejecting the results, alleging fraud, and threatening protests.

In a statement seen by Rudaw on Friday, Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Fatih Alliance, condemned “in the strongest terms … the hideous state of repression with which the government authorities deal with peaceful protesters'', referring to the response of security forces in Baghdad.

Pro-Hashd protesters also demonstrated against the outcome of Iraq’s election last month, days after the results were announced.

The alliance gained 15 of 329 seats in this election, compared to the 48 it won in 2018.

Kadhimi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, ordered the launch of a “comprehensive investigation” into the “circumstances of Friday’s events in various areas in the vicinity of Green Zone,” state media have reported.

The prime minister has called on the political parties to “calm down and resort to dialogue.”

In a tweet, Nouri Maliki, former prime minister and leader of the State of Law, called on protesters to stay away from violence, saying they should instead “follow the legal contexts when protesting and demanding transparency in the elections, avoiding clashes with the security forces.”

Maliki also said that he supports their demands, and has called on the security forces to protect the demonstrators and not use force against them.

In a statement on Twitter, Qais al-Khazali, the secretary-general of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of the groups affiliated to Hashd, condemned the “security forces’ use of live ammunition against the peaceful protesters,” adding that the perpetrators should be held accountable.

He also called on protesters to “show restraint.”

Earlier this week, Iraq’s electoral body invited further submissions of evidence of alleged electoral fraud, as state media reported most appeals were so far found to be groundless.

Link to Article - Video:

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/05112021