Kurds in Iraq hold first parliamentary election since 2013

The vote takes place as political infighting and a growing Islamic State threat closed the last parliament, setting off a fierce fight for control over the Kurdistan Regional Government

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A Kurdish man and woman show their ink-stained fingers, during parliamentary elections in the semi-autonomous region in Arbil, Iraq. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:06am, 1 Oct 2018Updated: 4:06am, 1 Oct 2018

Kurds voted Sunday in parliamentary elections for the first time since 2013, an effort to kick-start a stagnant political scene in northern Iraq that has been beset by competing visions for the future of the autonomous region.

The vote is the first since political infighting and a growing Islamic State threat closed the last parliament, setting off a fierce fight for control over the Kurdistan Regional Government between two dynastic political parties, the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Kurdish employees take part in vote counting, during parliamentary elections in the semi-autonomous region in Arbil, Iraq. Photo: Reuters

It is also the first time Kurds go to the polls after holding a referendum last year on independence from Iraq. Despite 94 per cent of voters choosing to secede, the referendum failed to win international support and provoked a firm response from Baghdad that saw Kurdish territory and economic independence greatly reduced.

With the referendum fallout in mind, along with deeply held frustrations with the two-party politics that have dominated the region since it won semi-autonomy in 1991, many Kurds expressed apathy over Sunday’s vote.

Iraqi Kurds after casting their ballot for the parliamentary election at a polling station in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq. Photo: AFP

“I am not going to vote and waste my time for nothing,” said Farouq Omar, a 31-year-old from the Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, capital of Arbil. “We already voted in the referendum saw the result: We lost what we had instead of winning anything.”