KurdistanObserver.com

Sasa Kralj/Associated Press Supporters of the Kurdish alliance celebrated the news that their list of candidates received the second-most votes in Iraq's national election.

By EDWARD WONG

February 13, 2005
The New York Times

ALAHUDDIN, Iraq, Feb. 13 - Kurdish leaders said that uncertified election results released today show that the Kurds, harshly persecuted under Saddam Hussein, have as much right as Arabs to wield power in the new Iraq and that tough bargaining for such power will now begin in earnest.

The results indicate that the Kurds will be the most sought-after ally by various political groups as the groups jockey to form a new government.

The Kurdistan Alliance, the main Kurdish slate of candidates, got nearly 26 percent of the vote, or 75 seats in the 275-member national assembly, putting it firmly in second place. Kurds make up at least a fifth of the Iraqi population and, having been the targets of mass killings by Mr. Hussein, are considered the closest allies to the Americans in Iraq.

"This would show that the Kurds are an effective force in Iraq, and that Kurds are no longer second-class citizens in Iraq, and that Kurds have the right to participate in all posts and positions in Iraq," Massoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of the two major Kurdish parties, said in an interview here in his mountain redoubt.

The strong second-place showing by the Kurds will give them the leverage to demand that a senior Kurd, Jalal Talabani, be installed as president of Iraq, Mr. Barzani said. The Kurds will also insist on taking top cabinet posts, keeping broad autonomous powers to govern their northern region and administrating the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, where large numbers of Kurds were displaced by Arab settlers under Mr. Hussein's policies.

"It's our right," Mr. Barzani said of the Kurds' push for the presidency. "If you look at it democratically, how the list has done, it's number two in performance."

Mr. Barzani gave his assessment to two reporters within an hour of the announcement of the results, as his aides were still analyzing the numbers in their offices high above the wind-swept Kurdish plains. Thick clouds were moving in, threatening to cloak the mountain in another layer of fresh snow.

A two-thirds vote by the national assembly, which is charged with writing a permanent constitution, is needed to install the president and two vice presidents, who will then choose the prime minister and cabinet. The winner of the elections was a huge list of Shiite candidates assembled by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in Iraq. But that list, the United Iraqi Alliance, got only 48 percent of the vote, so the Shiites will need partners to form a coalition government.

Provided the Shiite list stays intact, the most obvious partner is the Kurdistan Alliance. Alternately, other groups, such as the slate headed by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which got nearly 14 percent of the vote, could try to woo the Kurds into a coalition that would have enough power to block the Shiites.

In the last week, two prominent politicians, Dr. Allawi and Adnan Pachaci, a secular Sunni Arab who served as foreign minister in the late 1960's, have visited Mr. Barzani here in Salahuddin. The two came on separate occasions to discuss the formation of a new government, Mr. Barzani said, adding that he expects more visitors in the days ahead.

"Whoever comes, they're welcome," he said.

The Kurds have also created an "operations room" in Baghdad that is arranging meetings with different political parties, Mr. Barzani said. Four senior Kurdish politicians - including Barham Salih, the deputy prime minister of Iraq, and Rozh Shawees, one of two vice presidents - have been appointed to negotiate on behalf of the Kurds, he added.

Nawzad Hadi Mawlood, the governor of Erbil province and a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said the Kurds "want an important place in the government."

"We want a Kurd as president or prime minister," he said. "This is our country."

The Kurdish leaders did say, though, that they thought as many as 300,000 Kurds may have been cheated of their right to vote because of election irregularities in the north. Kurds and Christians have been particularly vocal in complaining of a shortage of polling stations and voter ballots on Jan. 30 in some parts of the north.

Mr. Barzani said Kurdish officials will take a closer look at the election results and then decide whether to push their complaints with the Iraqi electoral commission. Electoral officials have said they will allow a challenge period in the next three days before declaring the election results official.

"Indeed a lot of manipulation has taken place," Mr. Barzani said. "On this issue of the challenge, we will consult among ourselves."

The two main Kurdish parties decided to run on the same slate in the national elections and to also cooperate in elections for the 105-seat Kurdistan Assembly, a regional parliament. In provincial elections, though, they competed against each other. Mr. Mawlood, the governor of Erbil, said the votes for provincial elections in Erbil might have been miscounted, and that the tally for his party might have fallen short of the true number by as many as 30,000.

In recent days, the electoral commission has been investigating possible vote fraud in Erbil.

But many Kurds in the city of Erbil appeared pleased with the overall election results.

"Now we can deal with the Arabs in Iraq," Mahmoud Abdul-Wahid, a retired schoolteacher, said as he sipped tea in a café by the old citadel. "We don't have problems with that."

Warzer Jaff contributed reporting from Erbil for this article.