President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani underscored the need to hold parliamentary elections later this year.
Taking part in the Munich Security Conference, he said that when he returns home, he will kick off a series of meetings with political parties in the buildup to the polls.
He stressed his commitment to holding the elections, adding that it was his responsibility as president to set a date for them.
Failure to hold them puts the entire political process and legitimacy of the Kurdistan Region under scrutiny, he remarked.
All political parties are expected to take this issue seriously, he urged.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s al-Sabah newspaper dropped a bombshell on Saturday after releasing the results of a survey that showed that the majority of residents of Kurdistan supported the dissolution of the constitutional framework of the Region and returning to the fold of the Baghdad-based federal government.
The poll, titled “Will the Kurdistan Region Be Dissolved,” was held by an Erbil-based company.
The respondents also expressed their “disappointment from the Kurdish political authority and willingness to return to Baghdad.”
The survey sparked outrage among political and government circles, even the opposition, while the people appeared indifferent to it, revealed journalistic information received by Asharq Al-Awsat.
The Kurdish government dismissed the survey, saying it was not based on scientific grounds.
In a statement, it stressed that the survey results were “far removed from the truth.”
It cited a July 2017 referendum in which the majority of the people voted in favor of Kurdistan’s independence.
At the time, the Baghdad government responded to the results with a military offensive and siege against Kurdistan, noted the statement.
Moreover, it added that the people of Iraq attest to the development of Kurdistan over the years, so how can the residents of the Region want to go back to a place [Baghdad] where their prospects will be destroyed?
The Kurdistan Region was formed by the blood of thousands of martyrs and the resistance and courage of the Peshmerga. No newspaper article can dissolve the Region, emphasized the statement.
A Baghdad government spokesman denied that the survey reflected the position of the cabinet or any official party.
An investigation has since been ordered into the survey.
