The acquisition of a comparatively larger number of votes with regards to last year’s Kurdish parliamentary elections would indicate a continuation of the support and views upheld by followers. Despite the relatively recent launch of the party on the stage of Kurdish politics, successes have already been achieved, with a potentially promising future ahead for the new list. 

But why is it that this particular list has been so grotesquely fortuitous in attracting votes and support as opposed to other smaller parties which have been in existence for longer?  

Firstly, one must recognize the fact that the image being sent out by Gorran is of a very cohesive nature. The undeniable association of Nawshirwan Mustafa with the proposals for change by Gorran is not solely because he is the head of the movement. A career in politics can end just as quickly as it has taken many years to build up. To voluntarily retreat as a senior member from within a party or from candidacy just before elections would generally leave few prospects for political revival, particularly on such a conservative political stage as that of the Kurdistan Region. For many, Nawshirwan’s decision to step down therefore comes to symbolize the man’s dedication to true change and along with it, the conviction that it shall be realized.

Secondly, the icon added to the party image by Nawshirwan’s charisma and experiences in the political field provide a crucial focus point of party leadership; someone people could trustworthily look up to. Nevertheless, the emphasis put on Nawshirwan could potentially have a reverse effect on the party when it comes to the point of appointing someone to take over his position if required. History has shown us that at some of the most unexpected moments in time great political statesmen have had to be replaced by their deputies by some unfortunate incident or other. At the moment being, no charismatic equivalent to Nawshirwan within the Change Movement seems to exist or been clearly indicated, which might be of slight political concern to the party’s followers.

Despite the fact that the Gorran movement is nowhere near the financial capabilities of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) when it comes to handing out the wages and salaries of its party members involved in campaigning, many influential intellectuals do seem to have joined the list. One main reason is that it is exactly their discontent with this matter of finance that has driven supporters to back the Change List. These intellectuals’ choice seems to be a voice in favor of the clear separation between wages issued by political parties and those in the public sector. This practice is upheld in all Western democratic countries, where political party members allocate donations and where additional money is raised through the organization of events.

Gorran’s entry into Kurdish politics can be positively interpreted through the significant levels of competition it brought along the way, and therefore through the provision of a strong alternative choice for voters. Its opposition ensures that the parties making up the Kurdistani List are forced to try harder to maintain its voters. Where ethnic boundaries ensured this ‘automatically’ to be the case in the past, voters are now presented with further ideological classification. This principle seems to coincide with the competition incentive of the Australian Alternative Voting (AV) system, which ranks candidates in the order of the number of votes and requires the two top contestants to face each other again in a second round in which the previous votes for the remaining contestants will be redistributed among the top two.

The system all comes down to the single aim of making politics fairer and more representative, whilst ensuring that existing parties and already installed politicians will try harder to maintain their positions. It is just what the Kurdistan Region needs.

Radio Curdonia
By Raz Jabary