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KDP should not expect any election reward

In the election campaign in the south of Kurdistan to win seats in the Iraqi parliament, there are some key issues. Top of the list is the ongoing shortage of money to pay civil servants’ wages and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) failure to solve this problem. Second, the vacuum caused by the long delay […]

The Kurdistan Tribune writes:

In the election campaign in the south of Kurdistan to win seats in the Iraqi parliament, there are some key issues. Top of the list is the ongoing shortage of money to pay civil servants’ wages and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) failure to solve this problem. Second, the vacuum caused by the long delay in forming the eighth KRG cabinet following the 21st September 2013 regional parliamentary elections. Third, the KDP’s attitude towards the nationalist movement in the west of Kurdistan and its decision to dig a border ditch between the west and the south, which will have an impact of voters. Fourth,  Erbil’s dispute with the Baghdad government, which is still in deadlock.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) needs to fix what is broken but it is doing very little and wants to give the impression that very little can be done about the current political tensions. The south of Kurdistan is on a gradual course to chaos and instability and the KDP’s election tactics may benefit the PUK and Gorran. Parties rarely win elections without persuading swing voters of their economic competency. The economic downturn of recent months has affected the standing of the KDP more than the other parties. There hasn’t been any official opinion poll yet but, based on our conversations with many people over the last several days, the KDP’s share of the vote seems to be dwindling.