Iraqi Kurdistan Opposition Parties Resign from Government Cabinet

Iraqi Kurdistan political parties Gorran (Change) and Komal (also called the Kurdistan Islamic Group) announced Wednesday they would resign from the cabinet of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Gorran also suspended its 2016 agreement with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party and resigned its speaker Yousif Mohammed Sadiq from parliament.

“Breaking: Gorran has ended its stillborn agreement with PUK with immediate effect,” the party’s official account tweeted.

“This government has failed in almost every way. They can’t even provide the basic needs of the people,” Shunas Sherko Jdy, an official with Gorran’s diplomatic relations department, told The Globe Post.

Gorran has asked the PUK and its coalition partner, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, for a salvation government, he added.

People have been protesting salary cuts and the rising cost of commodities amid unchecked government corruption. Tens of thousands of people in Iraqi Kurdistan have not been paid their quarterly salaries and wages, and many are unable to afford basic necessities.

Gorran and other party offices in Sulaymaniyah were torched earlier on Wednesday, as protests across the Kurdistan region continued for a third day. Five people were reported killed in clashes with security forces on Tuesday and at least 70 more were injured, according to health department spokesperson Taha Mohammad.

Security forces have been deployed throughout the region in an attempt to quell the protests, which are largely aimed at the KRG and PUK, which is largely in control of Sulaymaniyah province.

On Tuesday, officials shut down broadcaster NRT TV, saying it was encouraging the demonstrations. Shaswar Abdulwahid, leader of the opposition New Generation Movement was arrested on charges he, too, was inciting protests.

Anger in the Kurdistan Region has risen after the failed September 25 independence bid. KRG President Masoud Barzani resigned in the aftermath but the region has remained under increased pressure from the central government in Baghdad.