ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - President Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), on Saturday met with religious figures in Duhok province, campaigning for the upcoming federal election with a focus on long-standing grievances over the Kurdistan Region’s relationship with Baghdad.
“Elections are a very important process in which people decide their own fate, and we want the nation to be free and make its own decisions freely,” he said, according to a statement from Barzani Headquarters.
The KDP has set a goal of securing one million votes in the November 11 federal election. It won 31 seats in the 2021 parliamentary vote and is fielding the largest list of any party this year.
Barzani said the electoral contest is not driven by a desire for positions, but for a mandate to defend Kurdish interests.
For the KDP, “elections are not for obtaining positions as much as we want to show the party's strength and votes to all sides, and with that strength and votes, defend the rights of the people of Kurdistan and Iraq,” he said.
Criticism of Baghdad, historical grievances
Barzani reflected on decades of oppression of Kurds and other groups, saying the problems stem from Baghdad’s failure to honor foundational principles.
He noted that Iraq was established on the basis of “partnership, balance, and consensus,” but these ideals were not implemented, leading the country into “problems and complications until now.”
Kurdish leaders from both the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have repeatedly accused Baghdad of violating the federal constitution - a message central to their election campaigns.
Barzani also pointed to the suffering of Kurds, Christians, and Yazidis under past Iraqi governments and the Islamic State (ISIS), describing phases of “oppression, tyranny, and genocide.”
Election overview
According to Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission, 31 political alliances, 38 parties, 23 independents, and 56 minority candidates will vie for 329 parliamentary seats, nine of them reserved for minorities.
A total of 7,768 candidates - 5,520 men and 2,248 women - are registered to run.
More than 39,000 polling stations across 8,703 centers will open for the general vote, alongside 4,501 stations for special voting and 97 stations for displaced people in and around camps in the Kurdistan Region.
About 27 million Iraqis are eligible to vote, but only those with biometric voter cards can cast a ballot.