Christian parties to boycott polls in Iraq’s Kurdistan

Six Christian political parties in Iraq’s Kurdistan have announced boycott of upcoming regional elections in June to protest the abolition of quota seats by a top court, says a report.

The Assyrian Democratic Movement, the Beit Nahrain National Unity Party, the Assyrian Democratic Party, the Assyrian Syriac Chaldean People’s Council, the Sons of Nahrain Party, and the Beit Nahrain Democratic Party announced the boycott in a joint statement on March 14, Kurdistan-based Rudaw news agency reported.

The parties joined several other Christian and Turkmen parties who earlier announced boycott of the polls.

The boycott spree stems from the recent verdict from Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court that eliminated 11 quota seats allocated for minorities in Kurdistan, the report said.

“If any individual takes part [in the elections] through the general lists to reach the parliament, they will not represent us and we will not abide by their positions and policies,” read the joint statement from the parties.  

Jinan Jabbar, leader of the Chaldean National Party, on March 11 read out a statement from his party and a number of other Christian parties, including the National Unity Alliance and the Chaldean Political Board, announcing their boycott of the Kurdistan Region’s June polls.

Jabbar told reporters that the federal court’s ruling was a "great injustice" against Christians and a "dangerous violation of the rights of the minorities."

In Ainkawa, at the northern edge of Erbil city, residents gathered in front of the Cathedral of Saint Joseph last week to protest the “blatant injustice and the unjust decision to remove the quota seats,” calling on the Baghdad court to reverse the ruling. 

The court ruling is very significant for the minorities as it rules that their candidates for the Kurdistan parliament can no longer only run against other minority candidates competing for the designated quota seats, with Christian and Turkmen parties having to resort to fielding their candidates against those of better-funded, established Kurdish political parties. 

Several Turkmen political parties have also announced that they would not take part in the June polls. 

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani has set June 10 as the new date for the Region’s general elections, Rudaw reported.

The elections have been repeatedly delayed due to disputes between the region’s ruling parties on how the polls should be held and in relation to the dissolution of the Kurdish legislature after the federal court deemed its self-extension “unconstitutional.” 

Kurdistan is a constitutionally recognized semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq with a population of around 6.6 million, government sources say.

The Kurdistan Regional Government based in Erbil, has the right, under the Iraqi constitution of 2005, to exercise legislative, executive, and judicial powers according to the constitution, except in what is listed therein as exclusive powers of the federal authorities.

Earlier on March 12, Karkhi Alti Barmak, a representative of the parties joining the protest announced the decision to “boycott the elections until the quota system is restored and democracy returns to its own path.”

The Turkmen parties had decried the Supreme Court ruling as “unjustified and unjust,” in a press conference at Erbil.

The resident had called upon the Baghdad court to reverse the ruling.

Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church expressed concern over the court ruling and called the move “unconstitutional.”

“The ruling contradicts the law and the constitution and does not honor prevailing customs. There are a lot of things that are not in the hands of the court,” Sako said.

Sako pointed out that issues such as disputes over the minority seats should be resolved in the parliament and not the court, whose objectivity he questioned, and alleged that the move was aimed at Christians.

“There is always targeting behind the rulings. When my decree was revoked, it was targeting the Christians, not Louis Sako personally. And here also, there is a sort of targeting, targeting of the coexistence and harmony in the Kurdistan Region,” Sako added.

The upcoming election is expected to see fewer seats in the legislature, a new constituency system, and the poll administered by the federal commission for the first time due to disagreements between the main Kurdish parties that resulted in the failure to reactivate the regional electoral body.