Printer-friendly VersionThe Kurdish Globe
The announcement of the formation of Dawlat al-Qanoon alliance (State of Law) on October 1, 2009, by Nuri al-Maliki, which embraces 40 political entities and figures, has created a more competitive atmosphere for the upcoming Iraqi elections. Maliki's Da'wa Party didn't join the biggest Shiite alliance list led by Ammar al-Hakim. Both lists have good relations with Kurds.
"The Shiites' large alliance list considers itself close to Kurds. Meanwhile, they have done nothing for Kurds and didn't implement any Kurdish demands. Maliki was able to win in 10 cities [out of 14] in the last Iraqi election," said Kamaran Mantik, a university teacher, noting al-Maliki was the most moderate Arabic side toward Kurds among the others, but he didn't want to implement Kurds' demands.
Mantik suggested that Kurds should accept the alliance from those sides that are ready to take Kurdish demands into consideration. The Arab political entities prefer to manage the next election on the basis of Arabic sects that abide by the idea of Arabic nationalism, which existed over the 80 past years in Iraq to tyrannize Kurds, Mantik explained.
According to Mantik, Iraqi is now moving toward making several alliances. All call for a pro-Arab policy, attempting to build a powerful central state. This will certainly weaken the Kurdish role in the area.
Kurdish parliamentarians in the Iraqi Council of Representatives are discontent with not being able to form an alliance with any entity, and they have remained merely onlookers. Al-Maliki's Dawlat al-Qanoon alliance is in itself against the accordance of democracy, Mantik noted. "The Kurdish mistake in Iraq was that they tried to deal with Iraqi nationalism. Meanwhile, the Kurdish pending issue in Iraq was in itself national."
Not only have Kurds not decided on an alliance yet; furthermore, Kurdish leadership emphasizes that Kurds ally with a component that recognizes the content of the Iraqi Constitution and implementation of Article 140.
The posts of the Presidency, Prime Minister and Parliament Speaker are taken according to the votes different entities get in the elections.
"The governmental posts are distributed among the political entities due to accordance basis that has been practiced since the collapse of the Ba'ath Regime. The list that wins most of the seats can take more key posts. The Kurds were able to come second in the 2005 elections, they received the post of the Iraqi Presidency due to the accordance with other sides," said Pala Pawani, member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives.
Kurds may lose Presidency post
Pawani explained that Arabs and Kurds are main components of Iraq; accordingly, Kurds can take the post of the Iraqi Presidency once again. If Kurds lose this post, their presence may be weakened in Iraq. Shiites and Sunnis are now struggling to take this post.
"There is no guarantee that Kurds will win this post again due to not having an accordance system in Iraq to manage political affairs. Meanwhile, no item in the Iraqi Constitution exists to state that Kurds will take this post once again," said Nawzad Abdullah, a university teacher of political science. The election winners will take this post, he noted.
The Iraqi political situation has changed. If Kurdish political entities don't act in the elections as one voice, they will be unable to have a positive result and obtain an important political post in the next Iraqi government, Abdullah clarified. "The division of Shiites into two sects [al-Hakim's and al-Maliki's] is one of the new changes in the Iraqi political arena."
Bawani explained that Kurds have a positive relationship with Shiite political entities, as Kurds have had a multilateral alliance with Da'wa and Islamic Supreme Council parties.
"The Kurd-Sunni relation is weak because Sunnis don't believe in the federal system and they want to return the policy of central sovereignty to Iraq," said Bawani. "When Sunnis mention the name of the Iraqi political system they call it the 'Central Government,' not a federal unified country."
Meanwhile, some local news sources report that the Kurdistan Islamic political parties (Kurdistan Islamic Union [KIU], Islamic Group, and Islamic Movement) are willing to make an Islamic alliance separate from the Kurdish secular parties--for the Iraqi elections, emphasizing that they will share the same views to get the Kurdish national rights with Kurdish secular parties side by side in the Iraqi Parliament.
"We have sent a message to KIU and Islamic Group in regard to making an Islamic alliance," said Kamili Haji Ali, member of the Islamic Movement political bureau.
"We have taken the message of the Islamic Movement seriously. The KIU has many options to choose from, and the political changes will have the prior hand in the Islamic Union's decision to make an alliance with whichever side or entity," member in Kurdistan Parliament and KIU member Samir Salim reported.
A member in KIU political bureau, Mawlood Bawa Murad reported to a local Kurdish paper that he has no information about such formal demands by the Islamic Movement to make an Islamic alliance with the KIU.
"I know about this alliance via media, but not via a formal demand by the Islamic Movement from the KIU to make such alliance. Elections always depend on the number of supporters; they never depend on having an Islamic, patriotic, or national front," said Murad.
Meanwhile, a member of the Islamic Group political bureau, Muhammad Hakim, reported that the region's three Islamic parties have demanded negotiations to form this alliance. "There is no condition that the list will carry an 'Islamic' expression."
Some media reports indicated that the Da'wa Party has asked Kurdistan Islamic Group to join the Dawlat al-Qanoon alliance for the elections.
"Da'wa Party may not think about making an alliance with Islamic Group because al-Maliki's party has no supporter in Kurdistan Region and the same thing with Islamic Group in the southern and middle parts of Iraq," said Islamic Group political bureau member Mahmud Hama Amin.
Although the Islamic alliance doesn't ally with other Kurdish secular parties, they will insist on the same stances toward national issues with them, Ali noted. "We never disregard the region's rights, which exist in the Iraqi Constitution."
"Making such an alliance is a dualistic policy. The main reason behind making this alliance is to hide the truth and motivate religious emotion among Kurdish Muslim citizens for the interests of their political parties," said Hiwa Majid, university teacher and political observer.
If these three Islamic parties take the national interests into considerations, they will be better off making an alliance with the Kurdistan Alliance List, Majid noted. "The ideological interests have always had more influence than the national interests for these parties."