Barzani to the US Ambassador: We did not boycott the elections, but we want them to be held without foreign interference
Barzani to the US Ambassador: We did not boycott the elections, but we want them to be held without foreign interference
3-20-2024
Erbil – 964
The leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, said that his party “did not boycott the elections,” and stressed that they are in favor of free, fair, and transparent elections without external interference.
This came during his meeting with the US Ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanowski, at the Salah al-Din (Birmam) resort, north of Erbil, today, Wednesday.
Statement from Barzani’s headquarters, translated by 964 Network:
Today, Wednesday, President Masoud Barzani received the US Ambassador to Iraq, Elena Romanski, in Salah al-Din.
In the meeting, the US Ambassador congratulated President Barzani and the Kurdish people on the occasion of Nowruz. She also expressed her concern about the political situation in Iraq and the Kurdistan region, and called on the Kurdistan Democratic Party to do its part with other parties to resolve issues, concerns and observations related to the elections.
In the meeting, President Barzani referred to the reasons for the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s statement, and explained to the guest delegation that the Kurdistan Democratic Party took the initiative to hold elections since the beginning of the nineties, and in 1991 it called for replacing revolutionary legitimacy with constitutional legitimacy and elections, and the Democratic Party has always supported holding elections, and it is not afraid of elections. However, he has observations on electoral methods and the danger of undermining the principles of coexistence and eliminating the participation of components in political life.
President Barzani said that they postponed the elections for two years for various reasons, and foreign hands interfered in the matter and reduced the value and status of the region. They also changed the decisions and laws of the Kurdistan region in an unconstitutional and illegal manner and oppressed the entire Kurdish sects and people.
President Barzani stressed that the Kurdistan Democratic Party did not boycott the elections, but demanded clean, transparent and secure elections free of external interference and an initial program in which voters were not deprived of the right to vote and did not diminish the value of the democratic process.
In his speech, President Barzani referred to the relations between Erbil and Baghdad and said that there was a clear and comprehensive agreement within the framework of coordination under the name of the state coalition, which unfortunately none of the important points in the agreement were implemented.
The agreement aimed to achieve stability, prosperity, and the principles of partnership, balance, and consensus, but none of that was achieved. President Barzani stressed that they will continue consultation and coordination to resolve issues and remove concerns.
964media.com
