Talabani's Party Stung by Loss In Iraqi Kurdistan Elections
The upcoming meeting of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in January 2014 may be an opportunity to elect new leadership.
ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan — The political party of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is recovering from a December 2012 stroke, is facing internal problems and challenges after the party’s poor showing in the Sept. 21 parliamentary elections of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), when it fell to the third place. The loss caused a power vacuum inside the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The PUK won 18 seats, while the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) won 38 seats, and the PUK offshoot Gorran ("Change") Party won 24, including a majority in Sulaimaniyah, a longtime PUK stronghold.
“This is the third election; the PUK lost,” said Yusuf Muhammed Sadiq, who lead the opposition’s electoral list.
On Oct. 10, the party held its fifth plenum and is reportedly planning for another conference on Jan. 31, 2014, when it is possible new leaders will be chosen. In the plenum, its members criticized the PUK leadership for failing to win votes.
