Iraq's Provincial Elections: Kurds are positioning their Peshmerga militias in front of the Polling Centres of Tuz Khurmatu

The Peshmerga stand in front of the polling centres in

Tuz Khurmatu.

ITC Media Kerkuk
29th January 2009

Yesterday, two police members, one of whom was an officer, have been killed in front of one of the polling centres in the city of Tuz Khurmatu (75 Km south of Kerkuk).
As usual, the identities of the perpetrators of these assassinations are not known.

Using these attacks as a pretext, the Kurds have brought the Suleymaniya battalion from the fourth squad, known as Peshmerga, to Tuz Khurmatu and they have positioned 15 elements of this battalion to each of the city’s polling centres with an excuse of weakness in security. This, despite the fact that a battalion from the Governorate of Salaheddin had arrived immediately after the attack as has been confirmed by an official source from the Ministry of Interior.

When the Tuz Khurmatu branch of the Iraqi Turkmen Front objected to this procedure the Kurds suggested they would position their Peshmerga 200 meters from the polling centres. ITF refused this proposal and demanded the withdrawal of the Peshmerga outside the boundaries of the city.

The Iraqi Turkmen Front asked the government authorities to intervene immediately and together with other political parties ITF demanded that the security of the polling districts should be under the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior in order to ensure the transparency and impartiality of the elections so as to avoid the vote rigging and forgeries committed by the Kurds during the January 2005 elections.

Iraq's Provincial Elections: KRG's new evil tactics against non-Kurdish communities in the North of Iraq

The following is an Appeal from the Yezidi Community-Canada

Dear Members of International Communities, colleagues and friends,

These are the KRG's new developments against the innocent Yezidis of Iraq and in Nineveh Plain in Particular. The Iraq's provincial elections are very important for the minorities in Iraq, which could give them the opportunity to have their voices in the Iraqi governments. But unfortunately the KRG's new evil tactics are preventing any developments forward in the minorities' regions and Kirkuk and Nineveh Plain in particulars. And it is very clear that the Iraqi government is unable to protect the Iraq's minorities, such as Yezidis, Chaldo-Assyrians, Mandaens, Turkmens and Shabaks.

As a minority, we urgently call upon the US, UK, EU, UN Officials and NGOs International Communities to take an immediate steps and right measures towards these injustices and atrocities by KRG against the minority groups in Iraq, and also free Nineveh Plain from KRG's militias ( terrorists). Therefore, the minority groups could live in peace and freedom and select their desired representatives of choice.

These are some of the current incidents we report includes:

1- KRG militias threatening the Yezidis people of Sinjar if they don't vote for Kurdish list, there will be no compensation payment to those Yezidis who were relocated into collective villages in 1975, which the Iraqi government agreed to give 10 millions Iraqi dinars to each family and which already has been given to small amount of the Yezidis in Sinjar regions about 6-8 months ago and the KRG left the rest of the money for its election campaign.

2- The KRG's threatening the Yezidis to cut the salaries of the families of the martyrs, if they don't vote for KRGs.

3- KRG's militias are threatening the Yezidis of Sinjar regions, that they cannot visit Kurdistan to work, visit doctors and hospitals in the KRG, if the Yezidis don't vote for Kurdish list.

4- The KRG's militias' circulation of polling stations already started.

5- The KRG's militias post their political campaign posters at all check points in the Yezidis' regions in Sinjar, and warn the Yezidis to keep quiet.

6- The KRG's using Iraqi army vehicles and Iraqi soldiers of Kurdish origin for the election campaign to frighten the Yezidis and the Kurdish militias to paste their posters on these military vehicles.

7- Cowardly criminal act of KDP's militias and those affiliated to the party attacked the family of Amin Farhan Jejjo (Member of Parliament and head of Yezidis Movement for Reform and Progress) and is known for his patriotism and dedication to the noble service of Iraq and the Iraqis and to fight for the process of injustices against the Yezidis and the division of Iraq.

It seems that this attack came after the submission of a traffic video cameraman to the Independent Electoral Commission of the Office of Nineveh, one of the electoral irregularities of Barzani is to use of the army in the electoral propaganda and intimidation of the people to win the electoral votes.

Here, we call upon US, UK, EU Officials, all International Communities around the world and all honest Iraqis to condemn these cowardly act by Kurdish militias' occupied regions, which can obscure the true voice of the Iraqi citizen to express his/her opinion in the selection of representatives.

Best Regards,

Mirza Ismail
chairman
London Yezidis Community-Canada
P.O.Box 39045
London,ON NY5L51
ezidis@gmail.com
yezidis.canada@yahoo.ca

Iraq's Provincial Elections: The Stakes

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW REPORT

Iraq’s Provincial Elections: The Stakes

Baghdad/Brussels, 27 January 2009: Elections on Saturday have a potential to make still fragile Iraq more stable by reversing severe imbalances in provincial governance created four years ago, which generated deep grievances and widespread violence.

Iraq’s Provincial Elections: The Stakes,* the latest International Crisis Group report, examines how these elections could refresh local governance, test the strength of various parties and serve as a bellwether for nationwide political trends ahead of parliamentary elections later this year. On 31 January, Iraqis will vote in fourteen of eighteen governorates to elect new councils. Participation by parties that boycotted the 2005 elections is expected to reduce the dominance of governing parties whose rule has been marred by mismanagement and corruption. Even if they have taken a hit in public perceptions, however, they remain strong and well-funded, able to mobilise voters around religious symbols and use their institutional power to direct them to candidates of their choice.

“Ruling parties enjoy built-in advantages that will make it hard to translate severe popular disappointment into clear repudiation at the polls”, says Joost Hiltermann, Crisis Group’s Middle East Deputy Program Director. “They will make use of their superior access to wealth and patronage to influence the vote. Fraud is feared in the absence of international observers. And the opposition is hopelessly divided”.

The result of the 2005 electoral boycott was imbalanced provincial bodies often unreflective of popular needs, as well as an accumulation of local grievances. The councils’ failure to deliver basic services has made voters disenchanted with both the religious parties and the clerics that sponsored them.

This explains the rise of a new generation of politicians untainted by corruption, more technocratic in background, less religious in outlook and more nationalist in ideology. They will come to the job with less baggage and better credentials than the current leadership and might be both better equipped and more willing to make the compromises needed to put Iraq on a more stable footing.

“Whereas the January 2005 elections helped put Iraq on the path to all-out civil war, these polls could represent another, far more peaceful turning point”, says Robert Malley, Crisis Group’s Middle East and North Africa Program Director. “Despite likely shortcomings, they may begin to redress some of the most severe problems associated with the 2005 vote, assuring fairer representation of all segments of the population”.

Contacts: Andrew Stroehlein (Brussels) +32 (0) 2 541 1635Kimberly Abbott (Washington) +1 202 785 1601To contact Crisis Group media please click here

*Read the full Crisis Group report on our website: http://www.crisisgroup.org