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The Only Way to Electoral Victory Is Unification Of Administrations

 By: Dr. Nazhad Khasraw Hawramany

Nov 24, 2005

The two Kurdish administrations in Slemani and Hawler are gambling with their fortunes in the coming December 2005 Iraqi parliamentary elections. They are showing increasing insensitivity to the demands of Kurdish public. The people of Kurdistan are losing their patience about the  political stalemate in Kurdistan and the lack of any hopes for unifying the two administrations or implementing real steps to fight corruption in Iraqi Kurdistan.  Eight years after Washington agreement 1n 1998, the leadership of both parties are still wrangling about the details of envisaged unification and repeatedly break their promises to unite their administrations, ignoring the huge pressures from Kurdish public to do so, and while I can say with confidence that up to 99% of Kurds in Iraq will an immediate unification, the rest 1% which represents the KDP and PUK officials and their entourage are not ready to do so , apparently because some in both administrations are going to loose some privileges.

The TV and written Media  of those ruling parties are waging a media war on the Kurdish parties which decided to contest the elections on their own and accuses them of sabotaging the interests of Kurdish people at a time when they themselves are not ready to make the necessary concessions to accelerate the unification. Those party sponsored media are ignoring the facts that in a real democracy, competition is a healthy phenomenon and that in Arab Iraq more than 220 political parties and bodies are running for December 2005 elections and so far nobody accused any other party of treason or un patriotism. The words of democracy and freedom in Kurdistan are showing itself to be only empty words. The two dominant parties PUK and KDP are losing the support and confidence of the Kurdish public and large sections of Kurdish society might not support those parties slate (The Kurdistani Alliance) in the coming Iraq's December 2005 elections.

The reasons for this trend are multifactor, the most important of which are, the failure of the two parties to agree on a unified administration, the failure to provide the basic services like power supply, clean water supply, the escalating shortages of gasoline and kerosene supplies, widespread nepotism, failure to implement measures to fight corruption.

The Kurdish leaders are concentrating their efforts  on issues related to Sunni Arabs by courting the restive Arab sunnis, and in doing so they are neglecting their own people and paying less attention to their needs and shortages and dangerously taking them for granted. The infiltration of both administrations with corrupt and opportunistic officials are eroding the wide support that those parties enjoyed in January 2005 elections.

The looming crisis of confidence and lack of rapport between Kurdish masses and both PUK and KDP leaderships could cause the Kurds the loss of thousands of votes in the coming elections, something which could seriously jeopardize the political clout of Kurds in Iraq.

Therefore both PUK and KDP administrations are asked to abandon their selfish interests and take urgent measures to re-win the support of the Kurdish voters especially the young ones before it's too late. This can be done through concrete steps like:

- Immediately unifying their administrations before December 2005 elections
- Taking  practical steps to fight corruption in Kurdistan.
- Taking steps to overcome shortages in public services and fuel supplies.
- Opening their media for free debates about the social and economical problems in Kurdistan and allowing other slates or candidates to promote their electoral programmes - Stop calling the young generations of Kurds who are frustrated about  corruption and lack of prospect in Kurdistan as ignorant or unpatriotic.
- Reform their parties and allow younger and more educated members to assume responsibility
- Fighting Nepotism and Cronyism in Kurdistan.
- Paying more attention to Kurdish needs rather than trying to woo the blood thirsty Arab sunnis who want to re-install a chauvinistic regime in Iraq..
- Implement a real democracy in Kurdistan and avoid repressive measures against right of expression..
- Stopping personality cult in both administrations.
 

 Dr. Nazhad Khasraw Hawramany