SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Change Movement (Gorran) have formed an alliance to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Iraq, a party member said on Saturday.
The parties will run in Iraq’s early elections as “one list” under the name “Kurdistan Alliance”, led by PUK co-leader Lahur Sheikh Jangi, PUK-affiliated media reported.
They have officially registered their alliance with the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
“The alliance will have a very good benefit for Kurds in Baghdad and we have tried to have more influence on the national issues in the future with the [formation of this] alliance,” member of PUK leadership Arez Abdullah told Esta Media Network.
The IHEC halted registration for alliance lists on Saturday. As many as 42 alliances have been formed between the political parties in Iraq, according to the electoral commission.
On Saturday, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) announced it would run for the early elections as one list, with 55 candidates in 11 provinces.
Iraq is scheduled to hold early parliamentary elections on October 10, which was one of the main demands of anti-government protesters who organized months of mass demonstrations beginning in October 2020.
The vote is held every four years, but anti-government protesters demanded early elections.
In October 2019, the Iraqi Council of Representatives voted to approve new voting districts for sixteen governorates.
It approved seventeen electoral districts for Baghdad, six for Basra, five each for Dhi Qar and Sulaimani, four each for Babil, Anbar, Erbil and Diyala, three each for Najaf, Saladin, Duhok, Diwaniyah, Karbala, Wasit and Maysan, and two more for Muthanna governorate.
