Reuters
Kurds voted in a parliamentary election in their semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq on Sunday, with the two dominant parties widely expected to extend their power sharing rule despite growing discontent.
The poll comes a year after the region of six million made a failed bid to break away from the rest of Iraq in a campaign headed by Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Barzani has retained a support base even though his independence drive was crushed by the Baghdad government, and splits within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) mean the KDP could gain the upper hand in their two-party ruling coalition.
A weak opposition has been unable to challenge the KDP-PUK alliance. Both parties have and have dominated Kurdish politics for decades.
“I don’t know who I will vote for but our family has always supported the KDP. My son will pick a candidate for me,” said Halima Ahmed, 65, as she walked with a cane in the city of Erbil, the seat of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The oil-producing region’s unsuccessful independence bid, stagnant politics, unpaid public sector salaries and corruption have undermined the population’s faith in politics and turnout shrank in recent elections.
The leading parties say they do not expect more than about 40 percent of the 3.85 million registered voters to go to the polls, which close at 6 p.m. (1500 GMT). Preliminary results are expected within 72 hours.
There are 111-seats up for grabs in Sunday’s election, including 11 reserved for ethnic minorities.
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