NEWS CENTER - Stating that the KDP suffered a big blow in the elections in Shengal and the Autonomous Administration representative won, journalist İbrahim Yazidi said: "Despite all the votes, the will of Ezidi came out of the ballot box."

 

Voters in Iraq went to the polls on December 18 to elect provincial council members. The Iraqi Supreme Election Commission announced that 6 million 599 thousand 668 people out of 15 million 108 thousand 135 voters voted in the elections held after 10 years. Shiite parties ranked first in the southern provinces of the country. A total of 5,904 candidates from various parties and alliances competed for 275 seats in the elections. 70 out of 275 seats were reserved for women's quota.

 

In Kirkuk, one of the cities whose election results were most anticipated, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) became the first party in the elections. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) ranked 4th. Another curious center of the elections was Shengal. The people of Sinjar cast their votes for the Nineveh/Mosul assembly.

 

The Ezidi Freedom and Democracy Party (PADÊ) had established the Nineveh Peoples Unity Alliance with some parties, including the PUK. PADÊ had determined 4 candidates within the scope of the elections. One of the candidates, Qasim Keshko, was elected second on the list of the provincial council of Nineveh province.

 

Journalist İbrahim Yazidi 

 

'THE WILL OF EZIDI CAME OUT OF THE BALLOT BOX'

 

Evaluating the election results, journalist İbrahim Yazidi said: "For the first time in history, an Ezidi representative entered the parliament of Mosul province. Because KDP took Shengal in every election after Saddam Hussein. They always deceived the people of Shengal with pressure and threats; however, these elected members of KDP did not do a single thing to serve this community. KDP used Ezidis for their own interests, but as a result, it failed. Despite all the tricks of the KDP, the will of Ezidi came out of the ballot box."

 

Noting that more than 30 thousand Ezidis went to the polls, journalist Yazidi said: "The KDP's abandonment of the region during the ISIS attacks on Shengal in 2014 had a serious impact on the results in question. The Ezidis had 54 thousand votes in the KDP camps. Only 30 thousand of them went to the polls. The KDP was able to get more than 15 thousand votes in the camps; in addition, they distributed the votes of Shengal by appointing 5 candidates in Shengal."

 

'THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATION WON'

 

Saying that the KDP suffered a "historic blow" in Shengal, Ezidi emphasized that the resulting "success" belonged to the Autonomous Administration. Ezidi said: “The Autonomous Administration has always been described as an illegitimate organization; however, the Autonomous Administration showed everyone that it existed politically with the votes it received. Qasim Keşko, the representative of the Autonomous Administration, received votes from all segments. He received votes from Mosul to Tal Afar. The winner in Shengal was the representative of the Democratic Nation."

 

Drawing attention that the election result will play an important role in the recognition of the status of Shengal, Journalist Ezidi said: "This victory is important for the people of Shengal and is a big step for the formalization of the Democratic Nation system in Shengal. Everyone's eyes were on the elections in Shengal. It was unpredictable in Shengal. A result was achieved. Those who wanted to disintegrate the Autonomous Administration with special war policies in Shengal were disappointed. The will of the people succeeded in this. The Autonomous Administration managed to win without putting pressure on the people or cheating."

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut