How KDP’s Kirkuk provincial council seats boosted?

Kirkuk- A press conference for members of the Kirkuk provincial council’s Brotherhood list, May 2017 Photo: KirkukNow

KirkukNow

 

When the provincial elections were held in Kirkuk in 2005, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) had only 7 seats within the Brotherhood list out of the 41-seat council, but now the party is holding nearly double that number despite that no elections have been held since then.

This report highlights the KDP’s policy to increase the number of its councilors in the 14-year-old council, enabling it to become the most influential power in the body and play a major role in coordinating the work of the council during the past 18 months, undermining the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)’s efforts to appoint a new governor for the province.

 

The distribution of the Brotherhood list’s seats in 2005

According to an agreement backed by the late secretary general of the PUK Jalal Talabani and KDP leader Masoud Barzani in 2005, the Brotherhood list which also included a number of Arab, Turkmen, Christian and independent candidates participated in the provincial council elections in Kirkuk Province.

The elections were the first following the fall of the Ba’ath regime. The brotherhood list achieved a landslide victory securing 26 seats which entitled the Kurds to assume the position of governor as well as the head of the council.

 Within the list which was led by current PUK politburo member Rizgar Ali, the KDP won 7 seats; the PUK took 5 seats, while the Islamic Union and the communist party won 3 seats each; meanwhile, the Kurdistan Toilers' party and the Kurdistan Socialist party each won a seat. The rest of the list’s 26 seats were held by Arab, Turkmen, Christian and independent figures.

 

All 26 members of the Brotherhood list in 2005

KDP

1- Muhammad Kamal

2- Parween Muhammad

3- Mahmoud Muhammad (Kamaran Kirkuki)

4- Nasreen Khalid

5- Sahira Sayfaddin

6- Sherzad Adil

7- Dilshad Peerot

 

PUK

1- Rizgar Ali

2- Ahmad Abdulla Askari

3- Galawezh Jabari

4- Babakr Sdiq

5- Almas Fazil

 

The Kurdistan Communist Party

1- Ali Hamza Muhammad

2- Jamal Mawlud

3- Layla Muhammad

 

The Islamic Union of Kurdistan

1- Jwan Hassan

2- Rebwar Fayaq Talabani

3- Ibrahim Khalil

 

The Kurdistan Socialist party

Azad Jabari

 

The Kurdistan Toilers Party

Awat Muhammad Amin

 

The Christian component within the Brotherhood List

Silvana Boya

 

Independent figures

1- Abdulrahman Mustafa

2- Ali Namiq

 

The Arab component within the Brotherhood List

1- Riyadh Muhammad

2- Jawad Jasim Janab

 

The Turkmen component within the Brotherhood List

Irfan Jamal Kirkukli

 

Defection of smaller factions

The equation has now changed remarkably compared to 2005 with the KDP becoming the number 1 beneficiary, followed by the PUK.

Members of smaller factions within the Brotherhood List began to join the two main political parties. The defectors included a member of each of the communist party, the Socialist party, the Labor party in addition to the Turkmen, Arab and independent councilors.

Members of the Socialist party and the Toilers party as well as one member of each of the Communist party and the Arab component joined the PUK; however the PUK has lost 3 of its members during the past 14 years.

In return, the KDP gained 2 members of the Arab and Turkmen component as well as an independent councilor.

 

The distribution of the council seats in 2019

The KDP now formally has 11 seats in the council, while the PUK holds 8 seats as a result of the changes that took place in the council members’ affiliations during the past 14 years.

Almas Fazil, former rapporteur of the council, speaking to KirkukNow, said, “One of the reasons behind the boost in KDP seats is that the vacancies of many of the council member who quit were filled by KDP members according to the ranking of the candidates’ list.

Despite that the PUK seats lost three of its members after Almas Fazil and Layla Hassan became Iraqi MPs and after Rizgar Ali stepped down of the position of head of the provincial council, the party now has 8 seats.

The PUK faction is made up of Kakarash Sidiq, Azad Jabari (former Socialist Party councilor member), Awat Muhammad (former Toilers Party councilor), Galawezh Jabari and Osman Ali who replaced Almas Fazil.

In turn, the KDP besides retaining its own 7 seats it obtained 4 more seats after Riyadh Muhammad from the Arab component, Irfan Jamal Kirkukli from the Turkmen component, Fuad Husseni and Ali Namiq (both independents) joined the faction.

The Christian bloc’s seats were also boosted winning two more seats who replaced outgoing councilors.

All 26 members of the Brotherhood list in 2019

 

KDP

1- Muhammad Kamal

2- Parween Muhammad

3- Mahmoud Muhammad (Kamaran Kirkuki)

4- Nasreen Khalid

5- Sahira Sayfaddin

6- Sherzad Adil

7- Dilshad Peerot

8- Riyadh Muhammad

9- Ali Namiq Salayi

10- Irfan Kirkukli

11- Fuad Hussein

 

PUK

1- Ahmad Abdulla Askari

2- Galawezh Jabari

3- Babakr Sdiq

4- Jamal Mawlud

5- Azad Jabari

6- Awat Muhammad

7- Jawad Jasim Janabi

8- Osman Ali

 

The Islamic Union of Kurdistan

1- Jwan Hassan

2- Rebwar Fayaq Talabani

3- Ibrahim Khalil

 

The Christians

1- Silvana Boya

2- Sweetlin Estivan

3- Edward Orahan Odisho

 

Independent councilors

Layla Muhammad

 

Jwan Hassan, a council member on the Islamic Union’s list told KirkukNow their faction is the only one which retained its seats and their members remained committed to their party’s policy.

The Kirkuk provincial council is made up of 41-seats with the KDP holding the most council seats (11 seats) followed by the Turkmen Front (9 seats), the PUK (8 seats), the Arab bloc (6 seats) and the Christians and the Islamic Union (3 seats) each.

The rise and fall in the political parties council seats is not only a change in numbers, but has affected citizens’ daily life.

The 14-year-old council is nearing its end with the Iraqi high electoral body making preparations to hold elections in April 2020 across Iraq, including Kirkuk.

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