ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The leader of the Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal) on Wednesday strongly criticized "the intense" campaigning atmosphere for the parliamentary elections of Iraq in the Kurdistan Region as a "shame", while calling on those who had abstained from voting in the previous elections to change their minds, and head to the polling stations on November 11.
Ali Bapir made the remarks when addressing his party's supporters at a campaigning rally in Erbil.
"The disgusting words the parties use against each other are a shame, and people outside will see us as ridiculous," he said, without referring to any specific parties.
Campaigning began on October 3 and will continue until November 8. Security forces and special voters will cast their ballots on November 9, followed by the general election on November 11.
Bapir alo seized the chance to call on boycotters to turn out on the voting day.
"I hope those who had boycotted previous elections due to distrust in the political process, will change their minds and no longer abstain from voting," he said.
Komal is the second largest Islamist party, after the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU). It is fielding 14 candidates for the November vote - five in Erbil, five in Sulaimani, and four in Duhok. The party does not have any candidates in Kirkuk or Halabja.
Komal has focused on equalizing Kurdish civil sector salaries with those of Iraq and eliminating sectarianism from the armed forces in its campaign platform.
The Islamist party, which joined Kurdistan Regional Government cabinets several times in the past, has suffered recent political setbacks. In Iraq's 2021 legislative elections it won only one seat, and in last October's parliamentary elections of the Kurdistan Region it secured just two seats.
Komal was established by Bapir, a longtime commander of the Islamic Movement in Kurdistan, an umbrella group of Islamic political forces formed in 1987. It sought territorial control of parts of the Kurdistan Region with the aim of implementing Islamic law (Sharia). In 2021, the party changed its name, dropping the word Islamic.