Iraqi Kurdish Opposition Parties Oppose Referendum

Iraqi Kurdish opposition parties insist that Kurdistan region President Massoud Barzani submit the draft constitution to the parliament. 
Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani votes in Iraq's constitutional referendum in the northern city of Arbil October 15, 2005. Iraqis headed to the polls in an historic referendum on Saturday, with up to 15 million eligible voters deciding on a controversial new post-Saddam Hussein constitution that its backers hope will unite the torn country. Amid intense security, including a ban on all traffic, voters flowed on foot to polling stations across Baghdad as they opened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT). They are due to close
Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani votes in Iraq's constitutional referendum in the northern city of Erbil, Oct. 15, 2005. - REUTERS/Azad Lashkari
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Abdel Hamid Zebari
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The call made by Iraqi Kurdistan region President Massoud Barzani to put the recent KRG draft constitution to a referendum was officially rejected by the Kurdish opposition forces in the region. The latter consist of the Movement for Change, the Islamic Group and the Kurdistan Islamic Union, and they have stressed the need to reach a political consensus on the draft.

On Sunday, May 26, Barzani delivered a speech in Erbil in front of a large crowd of his supporters on the occasion of the anniversary of the outbreak of the Kurdish Coughlan revolution, which was led by his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the mid-1970s against the former Iraqi regime.

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