|
KurdistanObserver.com
Iraqi Shiites, Kurds Agree Unified Poll Lists
BAGHDAD, Oct 27 (AFP) - 16h07 - Iraq's dominant
Shiite parties and the two main Kurdish factions will each field single
candidate lists in the mid-December general elections, officials said Thursday.
"The United Iraqi Alliance will be maintained," said Jawad Maliki, number two
on Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's Dawa list, speaking of the Shiite coalition
of more than half a dozen factions which won 140 of parliament's 275 seats in
the January election.
Shiite political leaders, who control parliament along with their Kurdish
allies, would however continue to negotiate the respective weighting of their
parties on the list, he added.
For their part, the two main Kurdish parties -- the Democratic Kurdistan
Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan -- will also present a joint
candidate list as they did in January, said Adnan al-Mufti, president of the
Kurdish regional parliament and one of the PUK leaders.
"The Kurds will take part in the next elections putting forward the same
joint list as in January which allowed them to win 76 seats" in the national
parliament, Mufti said.
He acknowledged however that there had been "some changes to the list"
following the withdrawal of the small Islamic Union of Kurdistan faction which
will field its own candidates independently.
This faction currently has six representatives in the national parliament and
nine in the regional Kurdish assembly.
Political parties have until Friday to register for the next general
elections.
The announcements from the Shiites and the Kurds comes a day after three
groups representing the minority Sunni community said they had "agreed to run on
one list under the name Iraqi Concord Front". |
