Kurdistan - a land in waiting to be built

Why is the unemployment rate so high? And especially for our youth? Where are all the jobs? Why are jobs filled with workers from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka?

The goverment pay salaries to their own people for doing nothing more than occupy a chair and through corruption add more to their personal wealth. The government teach their people to be lazy instead of start building up our country. In every city - how many people lojal to the party are collecting salaries without doing any work at all? It is actually several thousand persons. And of all these - who do you think have the highest salaries? Those who sold themselves to Saddam and murdered Kurds...

It is time to start building this country. This is a country that need electricity, water, roads, schools, hospitals. We have thousands of villages that need to be rebuilt and farmers that need help to start farming again. We have the money, the jobs are there and the people ready to work. Kurdistan is a land waiting to be built. The Kurds are a people waiting for the chance to do that. When do we start?

Our helping angels are butchers

Have you been to the doctor in Kurdistan recently? I hope not. The ruling parties should be ashamed of the state of our health care in our country.

Imagine that you are feeling ill and you need a doctor. You go to the hospital. The first you notice is the awful smell and how dirty everything is. The line is long and there is nowhere to sit. When you finally get to meet the doctor you will have to do this with five other patients in the room waiting for their turn. You have no privacy at all. And if you get an x-ray, EKG or som other test you are lucky if the nurses do not have any friends visiting, because then you will have to wait forever. They do not care for patients, only their own matters. And you have to pray for that the medications the doctor writes for you are the right ones and that they are not expired. But if you look like you can afford it, you will get a second chance. The doctor will guaranteed tell you to come later this evening to his private practice so that he can help you further.

Later you go the doctors private clinic. The clinic is like a cave, a room with no furniture and hot like an oven in the summer. The doctor examines 50-70 persons in four hours. He will meet with 3-4 patients at the same time. The doctor will ask you to lie down on a filthy bed and then you will have two minutes to tell him your problem. How can these doctors concentrate on so many patients at the same time and decide on their care on such short examinations? A doctor should be the helping angel when you need him but they are all like butchers.

Do we have any controls or regulations for doctors and medication in Kurdistan? If they exist, they are just words on a paper.

A house on frail ice - our future?

Kurdistan is becoming a house on frail ice. The children, the young Kurds, are the future of our people. We do not have a future unless we take care of our youth. But the ruling parties are not seeing to that the young get an education.

The children up til 8th grade - they cannot even write a letter. But if you have rich parents you do not need to worry. You will get good grades and an exam anyway. It will just cost your parents some bribes to the teacher.

They say our school system is the same as in Sweden. Do you really believe that is so? Our teachers do not care about their pupils and the pupils do not have respect for the teachers.The regulations of how the teachers should teach and what the children are supposed to learn are just words on a paper.

Also 90% of the schools are not worthy to be called schools. The buildings are cold in the winter and there are too many pupils in each classroom. There are no materials, broken furniture, holes in the walls. And still there are at least a thousand schools missing today in Kurdistan.

The ruling party leaders, if they know this and are not doing anything about it, it is a catastrophe. If they do not know what is happening with the future of Kurdistan, it is even worse.

The land with ancient stone walls is becoming a house on frail ice

The strong people of Kurdistan standing up to their enemies and oppressors for centuries have become weak under its own ruling. Day by day since 1991 the ruling parties, KDP and PUK, have been destroying our country. If anyone would say that what I am saying is unfair or untrue, I would tell them to judge for themselves after hearing me out.

When the Kurds did not have enemies to fight after 1991 when our lands came under the protection of the UN, the ruling parties started to fight each other for the power and the money. They became obsessed in fighting each other and did nothing for the people. During those years between 1991 and 2003, what did they do for the people and the country?

In the year of 2003 when the US rid Iraq from Saddam Hussein, the Kurdish people were the strongest of all the Iraqis. We were strong because we had our own land areas under our own control and we had our armed peshmerga who under the protection of the UN had built up a solid organization. Then, when we were strongest, we had all the possibilities to set the terms after our own demands. But what did we demand, what have we gained? Not one square mile of our occupied land, the disputed areas such as Kirkuk or Mosel. Then when we were strongest we did nothing – so what can we do now?

The ruling parties, what have they done for Kurdistan? They have taught the people how to sell themselves and become thieves. They gave their own people, party members, posts with government salaries. They bought people by offering them such posts, many only to hinder them from going over to the other party. They did not mind who they were. Many of these with high posts and salaries are people who sold their souls to Saddam (jeshek). But the strange thing is not that they have the jobs, it is that they all are filthy rich. How? They all line their own pockets through corruption. With the salary they have it is impossible to acquire such wealth. Why does not anyone ask where the money comes from? Because they are all members of the Club of thieves.

I among others saw the elections a year ago as progress in Kurdistan becoming a democracy. But the elections were just a show for the ruling parties. These elections were just the ruling parties giving the people a lesson in how to maintain power by cheating. I saw with my own eyes the cheating, bribing, threatening, harassing, that occurred during not only the Kurdish elections but also again during the Iraqi elections. They did it openly for all to see. They did it to once and for all show the people that no matter what they do, vote or not, protest or be quiet, they will keep the power to rule. The people lost their belief in democracy, lost their hopes for the future and lost their faith in themselves.

The proud people of Kurdistan, who through centuries were willing to sacrifice their lives for their country – who are they now? Are they willing to once again defend this land, sacrifice their lives, for the two thieving families that rule Kurdistan? This new Kurdistan is becoming a house built on frail ice. Why? Because we have a government that does not care for our future. They are focusing on getting rich instead of building the country.

The dream of a land called Kurdistan is fading

My last entry on this blog was exactly a year ago. I wrote during the elections last summer and was planning to continue writing. My health forced me to take a break from everything and I wasn't sure I would be back here on the blog.

Now, I feel the need to share my thoughts on what I feel is happening to my home country. I fear the dream of a Kurdistan is just that, a dream. And even the dream of a Kurdistan is fading.

The Bahdinan needs Gorran

Change has a lot going on now after the elections. But it seems as if the Bahdinan has been left out in the equation. I wish that those who care about the Bahdinan put pressure on Gorran leadership to remember to include us too.

Gorran need to actively engage in a long-term commitment to the Bahdinan area and allocate resources, both human and financial. We need to work close to the people. But we also need to understand that to achieve progress in this area may take a long time. It is a special area, with special people, in a very special situation.

In Bahdinan, the KDP controls everything. It will be very difficult to break their firm grip on people. People are in the hands of the KDP just to get by in their daily lives.

The KDP use their party membership as a mean to control every aspect in life. If you are going to apply for a job, you need to go to the KDP and get a written affidavit of your membership to go with your application. Without being a KDP member you cannot get an employment, you cannot keep your job, you cannot start or keep a business, your children will not make progress in school, you cannot put food on your table... If you want to become a member of another political party, you will get sacked and your food-for-oil card will be taken away from you.

The KDP have in the Zakho area 142 offices. The rexsten, KDP party workers, see eveyone and hear everything. News travel faster between the rexsten than through TV and radio... The rexsten are on a constant watch on people and immediately intervene if they see anything that goes against being a lojal KDP member.

This is why Gorran need to have a long-term plan on how we shall help people out of this situation. The first step is to show the Bahdinan people that we are here to stay and that we are also in the Bahdinan to make a change.

The attacks on Gorran offices

On Sunday after the elections there were celebrations on the streets. The KDP/PUK used this as an opportunity to attack Gorran offices. They afterwards said that it was just supporters out celebrating and shots that were fired were just Taqay Xoshi, celebratory gunfiring. If these were not planned attacks, how come the same happened at the same time in Duhok, Erbil, and Sulaymaniya? They also said it was civilians shooting - civilians with AK47's?

KNN: Listi Gorran under severe violations

Independent observers report from elections

I am posting a report from independent observers that monitored the Kurdish elections. The report gives crystal clear information of the foul play that occurred during the elections and of the IHEC not being independent. It is also clear that observers were few in Erbil governate, and in Duhok governate they were absent.

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By: The Independent Network for Observing the Parliament and Presidency Elections in the Kurdistan Region: 25-7-2009

The network includes the following Organisations:

KIE - Kurdistan Institute for Elections

DHRD - Democracy and Human Rights Development Centre .

CSI -Civil Society Initiative

WOLA -Women's Law Assistant

On 25th of July 2009, the elections for the Kurdistan parliament and presidency took place in the 3 governorates of the Kurdistan region, Duhok, Sulaymaniya and Erbil. 78% of voters participated in this election.

The Independent Network for Observing the Elections, consists out of four NGOs mentioned above. With the help of 902 monitors, the Network observed the elections during the three stages; a) renewal of the records of voters, b) the election campaign and propaganda activities, and c) the general election’s day itself.

In all three stages the monitors have recorded many breaches by the different parties that participated in the elections. Some of the irregularities are noted below:

1) The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC)

The IHEC in Iraq is one of the important organisers and regulators of the election process. If there are any flaws with the IHEC, this could influence and affect the whole of the election process.

The Independent Network therefore has focussed on the functioning of the IHEC. Underneath a listing of findings and recommendations:

a) The two mobile numbers, which were allocated by the commission for easy communications, were not working properly, in fact, the numbers were inactive during most of the election period.

B) Most of the commission staff showed a lack of information and knowledge in some election stations in order to perform good quality and effective monitoring, and to provide supervision during the process. It was clear that more training would be needed for future election events.

C) Some of the organisers and directors of different election stations were not independent. It was very clear to the observers that they were under the influence of a political party. Some of them they were found to be in a better relationship with the political party than the election commission. It was abundantly clear that this assisted these officials with falsification and illegal activities. Due to these activities there were many illegal votes which will influenced the results of the elections. As an example, in some of the election stations, party members were allowed to observe inside the station, without proper permissions, thereby influencing the voters. This happened especially in Erbil City.

D) The voting station’s staff did not make sure about some of the names of voters, and allowed some to vote without their names being recorded in the station’s voters list.

E) The special elections closed at 6pm and the general election at 7pm. The transport of some of the boxes however, did take place as late as 12pm. Due to a lack of transport vehicles. The budget for the elections however was to the amount of 37 Million US$ Dollars, making the excuse as to the lack of vehicles due to budget shortages doubtful. The extra time in closed voting stations however, could have been used for illegal activities.

F) There was centralism from the commission to the election stations. It was noted that the supervisors of election stations used the form number 111 especially often after 3pm.

G) The elections were prolonged with one hour during the general elections’ day, without presenting proper evidence for the need of this extra hour, thereby putting the independency of the election commission under questioning.

H) While announcing the results, the president of commission mentioned in advance the election results that the elections went ok and there were no reported problems. Again, an event as this adds questions to the independency of the commission. Added to this that he also made a comment that the IHEC had to re-count 300 boxes, how could he have made such a positive comment if no checking had been carried out?

2) Stages of the Election Process:

First: the length of time to compile the electoral lists:

The limited time span of this stage was clear in both the special and general elections. Many of the voters were not recorded and shifting of the names, which were listed under the form 111 to new stations, were not allowed. These are big shortages of the IHEC in Iraq as over the last years this has happened several times, without real solution being found. Problems with registrations happened in both the 2005 elections, and later in the governor’s elections in the 14 Iraqi governorates on 31st of January 2009.

Second: The Election Campaign:

1) The election propaganda started before the scheduled date. Some parties started their meetings and the publishing of mottos and logos in publications in advance of the permitted date.

2) Government positions were used in the election propaganda.

3) “Vote buying” took place as well as pressurising people to change their minds.

4) Some parties used government buildings and departments for the display of election propaganda, e.g. posters and banners.

Third: A special day for voting, July 23, 2009

1- Publication of names of special voters in the recorded list of voters.

2- There were threats and pressure on voters in order for them to change their minds.

3- Some members of the police or security forces were not able to vote as their names were not recorded in the voters’ list.

4- Some government officials were in the voting stations without valid reasons. It was obvious they weren’t there to take part in the voting.

Third: General Voting Day, July 25, 2009

The independent Network only observed the election in the two cities of Sulaymaniya and Erbil, with its main focus on Sulaymaniya, as there was immense competition between different parties. This why from the total of 902 observers, 877 observed the election activities in Sulaymaniya city and only 25 observers in Erbil, mainly in the city centre.

The general overview from the observation notes, which we received from Sulaymaniya city, tells us that no serious falsifications took place, which influenced the result of the election. The few cases that were recorded in Sulaymaniya were not organised! However, from the reports, which were received from our observers in Erbil city, it clearly shows organised falsification that definitely influenced the result of the election.

3) Sulaymaniya City:

From a total of 887 forms, which the Network received back from Sulaymaniya city, the following breaches were noted:

1- Voting station officials allowed adding of names that were not recorded in the electoral list, thru the use of form (111). This made it possible for voters to vote twice. The Network strongly recommends that the IHEC needs to be very carefully checking the boxes that might contain this kind of double votes, to assure if there were falsifications.

2- The use of the form (111) was a seriously doubted by the observers, as the forms, which were filled out, did not contain important changes especially with regard to the changing of names from one station to another. This allowed the voter to register and place a vote in two stations. The commission needs to carefully check the boxes that contain this kind of fraudulent votes to assure whether or not falsification has taken place.

3- The lack of experience and training by the observers of civil society NGOs. Especially not knowing details about their duty's and rights, made it difficult for the monitoring staff to interfere in the process and the activities of the voting station’s staff. More training of Network and IHEC staff is strongly recommended and needed.

4) Erbil City:

The Network’s 25 observers recorded many breaches and fraudulent activities during the voting. Several of these are listed underneath:

1- During the day of voting, Kurdistani list members, only 30 meters away from the station, carried out propaganda activities. This is against the law. These kind of activities happened on both election days (special- and general election).

2- Several individuals entered polling stations with placards and photos of the Kurdistani list and their candidate for the presidency.

3- Some members of the police-force and party members were moving around inside the voting stations, carrying their weapons, but official permissions. This intimidated the voters and spread fear among them.

4- There were some posters for the kurdistani list and their candidate for presidency inside the election stations.

5- The director(s) of the voting stations voted by him or herself to help the illiterate people, but without asking for their opinion as to whom they would want to vote.

6- Some army officials entered with many armed guards into the voting stations after 6pm. However, members of the army voted during the special election day (July 23); there was no reason for the military staff to enter the buildings in such an intimidating way.

7- After 6pm, several voting station guards made threats to voters, telling people to vote for the Kurdistani list.

8- Some of the organisers and station directors were making clear propaganda for the kurdistani list.

9- Double voting was carried out by supporters from the Kurdistani list with full support from the directors of the stations and party officials.

10- Some “Moqtar”, district supervisor/responsible, entered the voting stations without permission or license from the IHEC commission and asked voters to vote for the Kurdistani list.

11- Threats were made against some Commission members, and pressurised to allow people to place votes, who were not on the voters registration list.

12- Several non-official people entered the room during the counting of the votes and stayed their for some time, clearly trying to influence the counting.

13- Names were added to the registration list; the excuse was made that others mistakenly signed for them, and they needed to place their own votes.

This is a post-election report, based on 902 forms that were received from the Network’s monitors. Each form consisted out of 65 questions, and was prepared by the observers before the election events took place. At a later date a detailed reported will be compiled and published containing all specifics from the questionnaires.

July 31, 2009: Independent Network for Observing the Parliament and Presidency Election.

Program for Change

Now that 25% of the Kurdish people have given us the right to represent them in parliament, they want to know how Gorran is going to proceed from here.

In Gorran head quarter, conferences, meetings and discussions are held every minute since the election. We are planning that Gorran shall continue to work on the basis of a modern and active model instead of the party system that political work is usually based on.

Gorran is not a political party in the old meaning of the word. The word "party" has in Kurdistan taken the meaning of cheating, thieving and injustice. We will not form a politicical party with party members and hierarchy of a politburo. We are an organisation, an association of people that work for the same goal. We will work according to our program which will be based on the political platform we presented for the elections.

We will work actively among people, with the people. Our offices will be open for anyone. We want people to see us who work for Gorran as people working for the program - for the benefit of the people, not as party members working for a party and for the benefit of party members only. When people go to vote in the next election, they will vote for the program, not for a party.

We called ourselves Listi Gorran, the Change List, for the elections, and now we are in fact lacking a name for our organisation. We still are the Gorran, we still work for change in our program, so maybe we will call the organisation Program for Change.

Political Platform of the Change List

The Change List is a political entity that consists of a group of people sharing a common political agenda, and through fair competition for power and free democratic elections, seeking the trust of the people and to represent them in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s Parliament as well as in other representative bodies throughout Iraq and Kurdistan region, with the aim of implementing the List’s agenda through government institutions. The objectives of the entity are summarised in the following themes:

On the political and legal arena:

• Redraft the Kurdistan Region’s draft constitution that through decentralised and devolved powers ensures more rights and safeguard freedoms within the framework of a parliamentary democracy;

• Support the rule of law and enhance the principle of separation of the Legislative, the Executive and the Judiciary authorities while consolidating the independence of the judiciary;

• Activate the accountability role of Parliament to ensure the effective monitoring of government performance and withdrawing confidence from government officials when necessary;

• Defining the influence of the political parties and limiting their activities as political organizations that commands no militias, private secret services or business monopolies; recognising that parties have the duty to form cabinets and execute their programs, but they have no right to monopolise public funds, abuse public offices for party political gains, or resort to bribery and corruption, nor do they have a right to intimidate or discriminate against the citizens;

• Enhance the political, administrative and community roles of women and the youth in all spheres of life;

• Enhance and reform the Security Organisations in a direction that serves the rule of law and prevents violations of Human Rights and refrain from partisanship and narrow political or local bias;

• Demarcate the geographical boundaries of the Kurdistan Region, define the authorities that lies between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region, and respect the supreme authorities of the federal government, resolve the outstanding issues between the two sides concerning the rights of Kurdish people and the status of the disputed territories with regard to the historic facts and according to the relevant articles of the Iraqi Constitution;

• Combat fanaticism, terrorism and extremism, and outlaw any discrimination against citizens on the basis of religion, ethnicity, ideology, gender, political affiliation or social standing.

On economic and administrative reforms:

• Ensuring the transparent disclosure of the Kurdistan Region’s budget by identifying the sources and details of the funds as well as the way funds are allocated to various sectors and provinces;

• Revitalize the government efficiency through streamlining government institutions and harnessing information technology to ensure more active administration;

• Salvage the economy and protect public wealth from abuse and corruption. Encouraging investment and improving productivity in the agricultural sector, enhancing the industrial base and animal husbandry;

• Draw up strategic plans to reform and modernize Education and Health Services;

• Hone plans for strategic construction projects in housing, electricity supplies, roads, railways, oil, gas, water, sewerage, dams and bridges;

On social justice and human development:

• Take action to address the crisis of poverty and unemployment within the society allocating 5% of the Region’s budget to this goal;

• Invest in the new generation to develop their physical, intellectual and technical abilities. Invest the sports sector and create job opportunities for young people in the private, public and voluntary sectors;

• Establish equitable healthcare and social security and pension systems for the population and citizens working in the private sector, as well as those affected by wars or by social, political, economic and health problems;

• Maintain a fair distribution in the reconstruction and development of Kurdistan provinces. Address the problem of inferior services in rural areas, residential compounds and remote areas, with prioritising the areas that sustain damage or contain natural wealth;

• Introduce reforms to rectify the injustices occurred in the Salary Scale, pensions, allowances and privileges. Setting up a maximum limit for the special privileges enjoyed by top government officials and their entourage, with the aim to establish greater social justice;

• Combat all forms of physical and psychological violence and discrimination against children, women, individuals with special needs, the elderly, the disabled and the marginalized segments of the community.

• Provide job opportunities and conductive work environment for business people, professionals, freelancers, workers, farmers and other productive segments of the community;

On civil, cultural and environmental domains:

• Support and encourage cultural, artistic and free media activities. Protect and restore ancient monuments and historical sites;

• Develop a culture of free, critical thinking and promote freedom of the media so as to ensure free access to information, unhindered by legal obstacles and unaffected by partisanship or political pressures.

• Protect civil society organizations, trade unions and non-governmental organizations from undue pressures;

• Protect the environment and promote the culture of environmental preservation to help tackling the risks of pollution in Kurdistan Region as well as global warming as a universal crisis;

• Protect natural forests, trees and wild life; and expand the green areas. Revitalize and modernize the tourist sector.

Forming parliament

On Friday the IHEC (Independent High Electoral Commision of Iraq) announced the final results of the election: Kurdistani List, KDP/PUK, 59 seats in parliament, Change List, Gorran, 25 seats, Service and Reform List 13 seats, The Islamic Movement 2 seats and Freedom and Social Justice 1 seat.

The IHEC also stated that ballots from 40 polling stations were discarded due to irregularities.

The precidency election was won by Massoud Barzani 69.57% followed by Kamal Mirawdeli 25.32%.

If the participating lists accept the results the parliament will open for its first session within the next 10 days. The lists also have to decide whether they will join the winning Kurdistani List in forming the government or stay in opposition. The KDP and PUK have made it clear that they will not accept criticism from parties that join the government.

The Change List will stay in opposition and are hoping the 4PartyList to join us. That would jointly make us an opposition that has the possibility to prevent the government from passing important laws that demand acceptance from 2/3 of the parliament, in case we object to their propositions.

A week after the elections

The IHEC (Independent High Electoral Commision) states today that final election results will be announced Thursday next week. Obviously they have not yet investigated all the fraud complaints or decided what to do about them. We hope they will discard those ballots we have marked. Because we know that there were stuffed ballots on several of our polling stations. We also suspect they made votes to Change List invalid by marking double votes on them. Also our observers were not allowed to observe their sorting and counting the votes.

We hope the IHEC really take their commision seriously and do what they are supposed to do. How will we accept the results if they do not?

The Change List are now discussing plans and strategies to implement our program. We will take our opportunity as opposition in parliament to make the voice of our people heard, the voice of whom we represent, the voice of our voters.

IHEC gave false information on election monitoring

The IHEC (Independent High Electoral Commision) of Iraq falsely stated that the IRI (International Republican Institute) was monitoring the elections in Kurdistan.

The IRI immediately denied that was the case:

For Immediate Release
July 24, 2009

Clarification on Media Reports Stating that IRI is Monitoring the Kurdistan Regional Elections

“There have been recent media reports that cite Hamdiya al-Husseini, the chairwoman of the Kurdish region's electoral commission, as saying that the International Republican Institute (IRI) will be sending international monitors to observe the Kurdistan Regional elections scheduled for Saturday, July 25.

“According to the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observers and Code of Conduct for International Election Observers, which IRI endorses, an election observation mission is ‘the systematic, comprehensive and accurate gathering of information concerning the laws, processes and institutions related to the conduct of elections and other factors concerning the overall electoral environment; the impartial and professional analysis of such information; and the drawing of conclusions about the character of electoral processes based on the highest standards for accuracy of information and impartiality of analysis.’

“As such, IRI will not be monitoring the Kurdistan Regional elections. Rather, a small number of IRI staff will conduct a program assessment on Election Day of the Institute’s voter education and voter turnout programs.

“IRI will not be issuing any findings on the elections itself.”

Link to this statement on IRI website.