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For the first time in decades, Kurdish opposition racing into Kurdistan Parliamentary elections under the motto of fighting corruption managed to shake the old time power of Kurdistan’s two main parties.
A senior official from the Change List led by Noshirwan Mustapha, a former number 2 official in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, noted that the Change List won 50% of votes in Sulaymaniya and 22% in Arbil.
The List has won 19 seats out of 38 in Sulaymaniya and 9 seats in Arbil, thus it won 28 seats out of 111 in Parliament, the official explained.
In Arbil, preliminary results showed that Kurdistan’s current leader Massoud Barazani rallied 70 % of votes while Kurdistan List won 60 % of votes, announced Fouad Hussein, head of Kurdistan Presidential Office.
Hussein said he believes these results are a clear indication to Kurdistan people’s trust in leader Massoud Barazani and Kurdistani List, manifested amidst utmost democracy.
Moreover, consistent sources reported that presidential candidate Kamal Mirawidly won over Barazani in Al Sulaymaniya Province.
Reform and Services List including four Islamic and left-wing parties claimed 17 seats in Parliament, which they presently occupy, among which 15 seats for Islamists, a source from the List said. Thus, opposition would occupy about 45 seats in the upcoming Parliament.
If these tallies are confirmed, Kurdistani List will win 53 to 55 seats in Parliament in addition to 11 seats allocated for minorities including Turkmen and Christians who constitute Barazani’s traditional ally.
In the same context, sources from Kurdistan Democratic Party noted that early elections ballots including army and Peshmergas have not been counted yet, thus tallies might shift in favor of Kurdistani List, they added.
It is to be noted that early voting turnout marked 80% out of 116,000 voters while elections turnout in the region was put at 78.5% out of 2.5 million eligible voters.
Furthermore, Change List warned of a plot by Kurdistan authorities to alter results into their favor. Opposition Party of Services and Reform affirmed that the day of elections was clouded by violations in polling stations all around the region upon the order of ruling party officials.
In this concern, Independent High Electoral Commission vowed to investigate official complaints but told reporters that voting was sound.
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