I Vote, Therefore I Am

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Lawyers affiliated with a range of political parties in Kurdistan recently volunteered to help voters who face intimidation, coercion or other aggression at polling sites during the semi-autonomous Iraqi region’s parliamentary elections on Oct. 20.

They want every Kurd to be able to cast their ballot freely, regardless of their political affiliation, and are volunteering because the government led by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party hasn’t been adequately ensuring the integrity of the ballot, Kurdish news site Rudaw wrote.

The vote is a long time coming. Kurdish President Nechirvan Barzani has rescheduled the ballot five times since 2022 because the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the largest opposition party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan couldn’t agree on how to conduct the elections, reported Voice of America. The dispute, which included fisticuffs on the floor of parliament, lasted long enough for an Iraqi court to suspend the legislature in 2023 after its remit expired, added Reuters.

That said, Kurdistan has continued to function in part because “party elites largely dictate governmental affairs through a variety of formal and informal mechanisms, elections being just one,” noted the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.

Still, the parties eventually agreed to divide Kurdistan into four electoral constituencies, reserve 30 percent of parliamentary seats for women, and allocate five out of 100 seats to minorities, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq.

The election has substance, too. Faced with internal divisions and external pressure from Baghdad, Iran and Turkey, analysts say the election is the most critical one in a generation – the future of Iraqi Kurdistan’s autonomy hinges on it.

For example, Kurdistan’s government – a close American ally within Iraq – can’t pay its bills, including oil-tax-fueled salaries that are the bedrock of the local economy. That’s because the Iraqi government has refused to release money to Kurdistan due to disputes between officials over how much each side owes the other.

In these talks, Kurdish leaders in the capital Erbil want to preserve their independence against what they view as an increasingly intrusive and controlling government in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, explained the Washington Institute of Near East Policy.

Via court cases, the Iraqi government, for instance, has argued for paying Kurdish public sector employees directly, and then deducting those payments from its total aid to the Kurdish government. Iraqi officials also have gone to court to require Kurdistan to provide them with an accounting of their oil and non-oil revenues. These moves shift a lot of bureaucratic power from Erbil to Baghdad, alarming not only Kurds but also their US allies.

Turkey is adding to that pressure: Iraqi leaders have also been cooperating more closely with Turkey, announcing a ban on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a separatist group seeking to establish a sovereign, fully autonomous Kurdistan in Iraq, Turkey and Syria, the Associated Press reported.

Mohammed Salih, a senior fellow at the Wilson Center, says that Iran also figures in the equation. “It’s crucial to recognize that the recent trend of centralization (by Baghdad), aimed at strengthening the state, is diminishing the US role and influence in Iraqi politics,” he wrote. “This is due to the close alignment of ruling groups in Baghdad with Iran’s regional agenda.”

Meanwhile, Amwaj Media, which covers the region, detailed how Iran is particularly worried about Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based across the border in Iraqi Kurdistan, accusing them and their hosts of having ties with Israel. The Kurds deny those accusations.

Regardless, Iran is adding pressure because it needs internal peace in order to fight external foes, the outlet added.

“Facing the prospect of a potential escalation of the intelligence war with Israel, and possible open warfare with ramifications inside its borders, (Iran) is now using an apparent window of opportunity to go after its Kurdish foes.”

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