Kurdish parties to retain strong political presence in Nineveh despite electoral challenges: lawmaker

Shafaq News/ Sherwan Dubardani, a member of the Iraqi parliament, on Monday said that Kurdish political parties, particularly the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), will maintain their political influence in Nineveh, despite recent changes to the electoral law and evolving dynamics in the governorate.

"The strength of the Kurdish parties, especially the KDP, is firm and will not weaken despite the changes in Nineveh and the increasing presence of forces aligned with the Coordination Framework," Dubardani told Shafaq News Agency.

He noted that outside political forces are exerting increasing control over Nineveh by using their financial power, weapons, and ties to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

"The use of these weapons, the PMF's influence, and involvement from foreign entities—like the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Sinjar—have had a negative effect on Nineveh’s political environment," Dubardani said. Despite this, he stressed that the KDP remains as strong as in previous years.

On the number of seats the KDP expects to secure in Nineveh, Dubardani said that it depends on possible changes to Iraq's electoral law. "With or without changes, the KDP consistently receives around a quarter of the votes in Nineveh," he said.

In the previous parliamentary elections, the KDP won seven seats, the highest of any party in Nineveh, Dubardani added. "In local elections, the party came in second after the Nineveh for its People Bloc, underscoring the KDP’s continued political weight in the governorate."