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| Iraq |
| Iraq Kurds delay presidential polls over row |
| 2013-07-01 |
| [Al Ahram] Iraqi Kurdish politicians agreed on Sunday to delay controversial presidential polls for two years as they sparred over whether to allow regional leader Massud Barzani to stand for another term in power. Parliamentary and provincial elections due September 21 will go ahead as planned, but the delay to the presidential polls are the latest step in a months-long battle between the two regional hegemons and opposition parties over whether Barzani, the dominant figure in the autonomous three-province region, can remain in office. The opposition argues Barzani has served the maximum-allowable two terms in office, but the dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and its smaller partner the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have pushed for a referendum on a new constitution which would, if approved, allow him to serve up to two more. On Sunday, the standoff reached a head, with opposition politicians throwing water bottles and fistfights breaking out in the Kurdish regional parliament, before a delay to the presidential elections was eventually approved. "The Kurdish parliament approved delaying presidential elections for two years," said Omar Sadiq, an MP loyal to Barzani's KDP. "The election on September 21 will be for parliament and the provincial councils only." |
| Posted by:Fred |