In the interview Rudaw Dr. Shaho Saeed, the spokesman for the Change List, explains the agenda of the list and his expectation for the List.
Rudaw: What is the agenda of your list?
Saeed: We believe that the ruling system of Kurdistan has to be changed, the region should be improved politically and the parliament, government institutions, civil society organizations and the judicial establishments all should be more active.
We have some strategic goals such as consolidating the democratic experience in Kurdistan and also improving the (basic) services.
We are confident that if we win the majority of the parliamentary seats or make that happen with our alliances, we can take serious steps in improving the ruling system of Kurdistan. The most important thing is to return the public wealth to the people and their representatives, in a way that leaves no room for corruption. We also want to change the security establishments in a way that they can protect people instead of the officials.
Rudaw: You referred to your "alliances". Have you decided to from alliance with any faction?
Saeed: We are ready to form alliance with any list or party in the parliament if they believe in our program. However until the elections are carried out we don’t discuss this subject.
Rudaw: Do you think that people believe in the agenda of parties?
Saeed: I don’t blame them if they have lost trust in the agenda of the lists, because so far the agendas have just been promises that were not kept. We are confident that we can carry out our agenda. We are dedicated to the people. Our goal is to change the authority and because our cause is shared by the public then people would trust our agenda.
Rudaw: What distinguishes your agenda from the agendas of the other lists?
Saeed: The difference is that we work to change the political system and not only the people in power.
Rudaw: Change List is popular in Sulaimaniya. Does this mean that you will win the hearts of the PUK supporters?
Saeed: Change List is a public entity. Pretty soon people of Kurdistan and the world will recognize what a strong public support the list enjoys. The list is a Kurdish list functioning in Kurdistan Region, but not in a specific city or district. Our massage and agenda is also to change the entire political and economical system of Kurdistan. We have formed a political chain of command. It is true that we are supported by a number of the former party officials of different parties but a huge number of youth, intellectuals, independent people and the Kurdish in Diaspora back us.
Rudaw: But do these old affiliates pose a threat to influence (the decisions of) the list and its members?
Saeed: No, they will not. What unites us is only a political program and its goals rule the members. No one can influence us.
Rudaw: You said that you are a list functioning all over the Kurdistan Region. But why you are not influential in Hawler and Duhok?
Saeed: The public support is different from a place to another. It is early to tell if our support and popularity in Sulaimaniya or Duhok or Hawler are strong or weak. The results of the elections will determine this. Yet, according to our knowledge we have public support in almost all the parts for Kurdistan Region.
Rudaw: Some say that your candidates in Hawler and the surrounding areas are not influential, that is why you don't have supporters there. What is your comment of those opinions?
Saeed: I think that they are not right. We have tried hard and some of our candidates are from the civil society organizations and some are well-known people. But it is not necessary that the candidates be only intellectuals or academic ones as for assigning the members of the parliament the geography, the social classification, age and specialization are to be considered.
Rudaw: Where do you get the money for the election campaigns?
Saeed: The list is funded by donations from people. We have a financial committee that supervises the collection of the financial donations and we have opened a bank account through which people support us.
Rudaw: In your opinion can you obtain enough seats to be able to form an active opposition in the parliament?
Saeed: The supporters of our list are increasing every moment. I am confident that these elections will change the entire political map of Kurdistan. I am certain that we or other sides can form a strong opposition.
Rudaw: In your election campaigns will you focus on your agenda or criticize the other lists?
Saeed: We will only campaign for our agenda. We might criticize the shortcomings but we don't let ourselves to launch personal attacks against others.
Rudaw: Will you attack any list?
Saeed: No at all. We resort only to dialogue and civil criticism, and we campaign only for our agenda.
Rudaw: But if another list launched attacks against your list, what are you going to do?
Saeed: In case there are any violations against us, we will resort to the High Electoral Commission and the courts in Kurdistan and Iraq. We will try to affect the public opinion in Kurdistan and the world concerning the violations. I don’t expect any attacks but in case it happened we will take position according to the size of the violation.
Rudaw: Some people believe that many people who voted to Islamists in the previous elections will vote to your list this time. What do you think about this?
Saeed: We will only count on those people who believe in our agenda.
Rudaw: Don't you expect that the Islamists will campaign against you?
Saeed: I don't expect that anyone is in war with us. We will take position when we encounter any hostility.
Rudaw: Some people are concerned that you may not accept the results of the elections.
Saeed: We accept the results of the elections if there are no violations and the results are not rigged. In case there is any fraud we will announce our position.
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