In the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, the Kurdish opposition — specifically the Movement for Change — is questioning the recent population increase, abnormal compared with that at the time of the parliamentary elections in 2009 in the region and in 2010 in Iraq.
The Movement for Change led by Mustafa Nushirwan, which split from Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in 2008, is suspicious about the fact that this increase took place in Erbil and Dahuk, cities that are ruled by Massoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).