Ousted PUK co-chair to partake in Kurdistan election under new list

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Lahur Talabany, ousted co-chair of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), on Tuesday announced that he will compete in the upcoming parliamentary election in the Kurdistan Region under a new list that he claimed would be the voice of the dissidents. The announcement comes one day before PUK’s contentious congress.

The PUK was rocked by a power struggle in July 2021 as its co-chair Bafel Talabani ousted his cousin Lahur Talabany from the party and leadership position. Bafel Talabani said the shakeup was to end abuse of party positions such as smuggling and extortion. Despite several legal attempts, Lahur Talabany failed to regain his position as the co-leader of the party. 

After more than two years of his absence from politics, Lahur Talabany said on Tuesday that he will challenge the current leadership of his party by taking part in the February 25 parliamentary election in the Kurdistan Region under a new list, without disclosing its name.

“We will take part in the upcoming parliamentary election in Kurdistan and announce a publicly accepted list which will see itself in a wide liberation front, with the participation of all courageous, dissident voices of Kurdistan from inside and outside the PUK in an attempt to be rescued from the current instability and deep crises from which people are suffering,” the former PUK leader said in a video statement published on Facebook. 

He added that the list will be the “voice” of those who seek change, reforms, and a better life. 

The former co-chair of the party, which controls Sulaimani province, said PUK’s Bafel Talabani and his brother Qubad Talabani - who is also the deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) - are “responsible for what is happening within the PUK and the Region,” referring to PUK’s internal issues and the security, political and financial issues the Kurdistan Region suffers from.  

“They used to claim to do reforms but as you can see what they have done to the PUK which suffers from diplomatic and democratic failures every day,” said Lahur Talabany. 

PUK in August last year officially named Bafel Talabani as the “President” of the party, dismissing the co-leadership system. Before Tuesday’s announcement, Lahur Talabany had claimed that he was still the co-chair of the party. 

The PUK has announced that it will hold its congress - the first after the ousting of the former co-chair - on Wednesday. Many senior members have either not been invited or have refused to attend it, including Bafel Talabani’s father-in-law Mala Bakhtiar. 

In a damning video statement on Monday, Bakhtiar - a longtime friend of late PUK founder Jalal Talabani and a veteran Peshmerga - criticized the current leadership of the party, saying the congress is being done in a rush and without coordination with many senior members, such as himself. 

He said that it used to take them six months in the past to prepare for a congress to make sure the process was fair and democratic, claiming that the upcoming one is being held otherwise. 
He even accused the PUK leadership of violating the party’s bylaw regarding how the congress is being held.  

Lahur Talabany described the congress as a “theater” and called the current PUK leadership “putschists,” referring to the events of July 2021. 

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, who is also deputy leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP),  is expected to attend the PUK congress in Sulaimani. President Barzani will also deliver a speech at the event. 

The congress will be attended by 600 PUK members. 

PUK was founded in Damascus in 1975 and it is the second-strongest political party in the Kurdistan Region.

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