Iraq Kurdistan region plans presidential, parliamentary votes

Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region is calling presidential and parliamentary elections for November 1, the Erbil-based Rudaw TV said on Tuesday, as the Kurdish leadership cements its case for independence.

A referendum held on September 25 in the country's Kurdish-held northern regions delivered an overwhelming 'yes' for independence, raising fears in Iraq and abroad of ethnic strains and a weakening of a U.S.-backed campaign against IS.

The elections would be calculated to reinforce the legitimacy of the leadership ahead of a drive for outright independence and any negotiations that might involve.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday Turkey would impose further sanctions on northern Iraq over the vote.

Powerful neighbours Ankara and Tehran fear it could fuel Kurdish separatism within their own borders.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has not declared independence.

The November polls are explicitly for parliament and presidency of the region, not for an independent state.

Baghdad retaliated to the referendum with an international flights ban on Kurdish airports, while Iran and Turkey launched joint military drills with Iraqi troops at their borders with Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Iraqi government has rejected a KRG offer to discuss independence.

It demanded Kurdish leaders cancel the result of the referendum or face continued sanctions, international isolation and possible military intervention.

On Tuesday, the federal parliament in Baghdad raised the threat of excluding those among Kurdish members who voted in the referendum, on the basis that the vote was unconstitutional.

The parliament decided to collect the names of those who voted in the referendum as a step towards their impeachment by the Higher Federal Court, Speaker Salim Al Jabouri told a news conference after the session, boycotted by most Kurdish MPs.

Jabouri said he was willing to open a dialogue with the KRG to resolve disputes but ruled out talks on independence.

Masoud Barzani, the heir of a dynasty which has led a Kurdish struggle for independence for over a century, has held the KRG presidency since its establishment in 2005, two years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

His tenure was extended beyond his second term, in 2013, as fresh turmoil engulfed the region and IS overran, in 2014, about a third of Iraq, threatening the Kurdish region.

It was unclear whether Barzani would or could stand in the November poll as Kurdish law says a president cannot stay in office for more than two terms.

Campaigning for the two elections will start on October 15, Rudaw TV cited the High Elections and Referendum Commission chief Hendrean Mohammed.

IS' self-declared ''caliphate'' effectively collapsed in July, when their stronghold in Mosul, west of the KRG capital Erbil, fell to a U.S.-backed Iraqi offensive with the participation of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

The Kurdish push for independence is meant to capitalise on their key contribution to the war on IS after the group overwhelmed Iraqi forces in 2014.

The U.S. administration, which had strengthened its alliance with Iraq's Kurds during the war on IS, is taking the side of Baghdad in the crisis, in refusing to recognise the outcome of the referendum.

Source:Timeofoman