In addition to the gender equality, the Kurdish parliament also maintains ethnical and religious balance. 11 out of 111 seats are reserved for the minorities: 5 Members of the Parliament are from Chaldean, Syriac and Assyrian parties, 5 are from Turkmen parties and one Member is representing the Armenian community. The respect for minorities' rights as well as the stable security situation in Kurdistan region attracted many Christians from all Iraq in Kurdistan.
Two main parties have been dominating Kurdistan political life in the last 20 years: Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of KRG President Massoud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. Since 2003 the two parties have united to maintain their power and the stability of the region.
Many new parties have been also founded in Kurdistan. On the last parliamentary elections in 2009, 42 political parties and dozens of candidates participated in the electoral campaign. Today there are 15 different political groups represented in the Parliament.
The movement Goran (Kurdish for Change) appears as main opposition party with 25 seats while KDP-PUK coalition has 59 parliamentarians. During February and March 2011, Goran was seen as main organiser of the protests in Suleymania, the second biggest city in Kurdistan Region. The demonstrations denouncing the “corruption and the lack of public services” are still continuing.
The violence between the Kurdish security forces and the demonstrators resulted in loss of lives. It was a negative development for the young Kurdish democracy. The Kurdish President Barzani, as well as the Iraqi President Talabani and other politicians strongly condemned the acts of violence in Suleymania and called for peaceful discussion and reforms.
In a televised speech President Barzani declared: "I call on the parliament to engage with all sides to study the possibility of holding early general elections so that the people can make their voices heard and have the final say". The Kurdish President is also expected to pass a 7-point ruling to the government to enforce the law and bring those responsible for the violence in Sulaimaniyah to justice.
The Kurdish Prime Minister Barham Salih also agreed with the demands of the protesters to the government and promised the formation of a joint committee to implement reforms.
After the clashes in Suleymania, nine Kurdish political parties, among which PUK, KDP, the Kurdistan Islamic Union and Goran, singed a peace deal against any sort of violence and terror used in internal conflicts. It was a positive step in resolving this internal conflict in peaceful way.
Some observers analyzed the protest movement as echo of the political changes occurring in the Middle East and North Africa. Others suspected the influence of the rest of Baath regime and neighbouring countries as Iran, Turkey and Syria in the internal Kurdish politics. Journalists watching closely the region estimate that several hundred active secret cells of Iran, Turkey and Syria operate in Kurdistan under covered by different kind of activities. Their main aim is to use terrorist groups to destabilize the Kurdistan region and threat its security.
However, it is difficult to predict if these mass protests will bring major political changes in Kurdistan. The fact that the Region have held regular elections in recent years, the existence of opposition groups and press freedom, as well as the high economic growth in Kurdistan strongly differentiate it from many other countries in the region. The recent activation of the opposition could perhaps have constructive role of catalistor of democratic changes and improvements without completely destroying the existing system.
The role of the political parties in the public life is also at the root of much of the social unrest today in Kurdistan. The Region still has not independent and strong national institutions and the institutional vacuum is fulfilled by the parties, which concentrate all the power. According the parliamentarian Shilan Abduljabar Abdulgani: “In some cases, political parties have too much influence. It is important that we make power separation between institutions and politics”.
The existence of independent national institutions will also prevent the dangerous relations between politics and economy. Many Kurdish and foreign observers believe that the accusations of corruption against the authorities today are in big part due to the involvement of the political parties in the economic life.
Economic boom
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