SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region - Yousif Mohammed, the speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament, announced his resignation from the post on Tuesday, a few days after his Change Movement (Gorran) declared its withdrawal from the KRG cabinet.
However, Mohammed expressed that he and his party's work is not finished.
"Our objective since day one when I was honored as the speaker of the Kurdistan parliament was to ensure power is from the people and to the people. Our objective behind the resignation today is for the same goal. We are promising to pursue this objective even in the future," Mohammed said from Sulaimani.
Gorran and Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) announced their decision last week to withdraw from the KRG.
The former speaker said this round of parliament was divided into two phases. He called the first phase "normal" and the second "abnormal in many respects."
The Kurdistan Region last held elections in 2013.
Elections were scheduled for November 1, but their preparations halted by the High Independent and Referendum Commission, which said it was waiting for parliament to make a decision on the matter in the wake of Baghdad's October incursions and candidates not registering on time.
"Unfortunately, it appears that authorities in the Kurdistan Region never hesitate to turn to arms, intimidation and violence for their survival."
According to Article 16 of the parliament bylaws, the speaker is required to submit their resignation via a letter and will be put before a vote to MPs to approve it. The parliament will later appoint a new speaker through a voting by 50+1 MPs.
Jaafar Iminiki of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is the parliament's deputy speaker.
Mohammed was barred from entering Erbil in October 2015 and ministers of Gorran were sacked because of tensions with KDP in the aftermath of deadly clashes that year which affected the majority of Kurdish cities in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces due to a disagreement that came about with KDP in particular because of the term of former President Masoud Barzani, from the KDP, who had stayed in power beyond his term since 2015.
Secretary of the Parliament, Fakhradin Qadir of Komal resigned in late-September.
"I fought for justice and the rule of law up to a high level," said Mohammed, adding his way of working was a "lumper" for many persons and political parties whom worked to implement a single-party rule.
"Because of the bulk of the reasons I mentioned and after the consent of the Gorran National Assembly, I am declaring my resignation from the membership and speaker of the parliament," Mohammed declared.
However, Mohammed expressed that he and his party's work is not finished.
"Our objective since day one when I was honored as the speaker of the Kurdistan parliament was to ensure power is from the people and to the people. Our objective behind the resignation today is for the same goal. We are promising to pursue this objective even in the future," Mohammed said from Sulaimani.
Gorran and Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) announced their decision last week to withdraw from the KRG.
"Now that we are deciding to resign, we promise to continue our parliamentary struggle with our colleagues through being an opposition side as we believed in the past that the oppositions are the backbone of every successful and legitimate parliament and genuine democratic system. We still have this unwavering belief," he added.
The former speaker said this round of parliament was divided into two phases. He called the first phase "normal" and the second "abnormal in many respects."
The Kurdistan Region last held elections in 2013.
"We could also call it: the pre-coup phase and post-coup phase," he said of the sabotaging of the Kurdistan parliament from October 2015 to mid-September 2017. "[It was a] coup, in the sense of the use of force to reach illegitimate political objectives."
Elections were scheduled for November 1, but their preparations halted by the High Independent and Referendum Commission, which said it was waiting for parliament to make a decision on the matter in the wake of Baghdad's October incursions and candidates not registering on time.
Referring to the quelling by Kurdish security forces in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces of protests against the lack of basic services and continued delay of civil servants' salaries, he said: "Today we see the same use of force for the same illegitimate objective."
"Unfortunately, it appears that authorities in the Kurdistan Region never hesitate to turn to arms, intimidation and violence for their survival."
According to Article 16 of the parliament bylaws, the speaker is required to submit their resignation via a letter and will be put before a vote to MPs to approve it. The parliament will later appoint a new speaker through a voting by 50+1 MPs.
Jaafar Iminiki of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is the parliament's deputy speaker.
Mohammed was barred from entering Erbil in October 2015 and ministers of Gorran were sacked because of tensions with KDP in the aftermath of deadly clashes that year which affected the majority of Kurdish cities in Sulaimani and Halabja provinces due to a disagreement that came about with KDP in particular because of the term of former President Masoud Barzani, from the KDP, who had stayed in power beyond his term since 2015.
Secretary of the Parliament, Fakhradin Qadir of Komal resigned in late-September.
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