Week Four – Election Report

End of the Carrot Rise of the Stick

Shkow Sharif

Week Four has been the week that has scarred the peaceful democratic process that was promised for these elections. This week’s campaigning has been defined by isolated cross-list incidents of violence which has generated fears that tit for tat violence may escalate in to more organised attacks. Week four has also been the week that international community have started to take an interest in the regional elections.

The day after the Week Three Election Report was filed the blog received word from credible sources that there had been a grenade attack on the home of a “Change” List supporter in their stronghold town of Chamchamal. The victim was a gentleman who the previous day had been on KNN Television (Nawshirwan Mustafa’s Channel) publicly pledging his support for the “Change” List.

However, to everybody’s surprise the incident was not aired by KNN in their evening news. Senior members of the Change list explained that they did not report the news because they believed it would be counterproductive as it threatened to scare vast numbers of people away from the their list.

Following this, a high profile incident, involving Shiekh Jaffar Shekh Mustafa the KRG’s Minister of Defence and Peshmerga Affairs turned the KNN /‘Change stance’ on its head. Shiekh Jaffar Shekh Mustafa, had according to media outlets “personally attacked unarmed [“Change” List supporters], assaulted reporters and vandalised numerous cars in Sulaimaniyah’s Tooymalik Avenue.” This episode sparked a chain reaction of tit for tat attacks between both sets of supporters. While the violence claimed numerous victims the rival lists took the opportunity to use the incidents as propaganda against their rivals.

In a bid to bring the situation under control and to demonstrate authority, an arrest warrant was issued by Judge Sirwan Ahmed Salih at the Suleymania City Court for the arrest of Sheikh Jaffar. This was watershed for two reasons; first, it marked the first time that a Minister in the region has been given an arrest warrant by a regional court and second first reports of real election violence were now being reported on the airwaves.

In another of the weeks most notable shifts the international media and international community have began their coverage and rhetoric on the KRG elections. The coverage began with a Rudaw report suggesting 3000 international observers would be stationed in the region to monitor the election promise. This was then followed by International media outlets including Reuters, the Washington Post, and the Economist.

The British Consul also made this the first week that they publicly discussed the election process, taking an expected neutral stance they praised the Kurdish Region but warned that they must not be complacent and must be aware of violence that may erupt as a result.