Kurdish Gorran Movement elects General Jalal as President in new leadership shift

Shafaq News/ On Monday, the Kurdish Gorran Movement announced the selection of Jalal Mustafa Mohammed, known as "General Jalal," as the president of the movement's General Council.

The movement stated, "In light of the recommendations and decisions from the Second National Conference of the Gorran Movement and following a meeting of the movement's National Assembly, the third round of the presidential election for the General Council took place with the absolute majority of its members and relevant parties present, under the supervision of the election committee at the movement’s main headquarters."

"According to the election results, Jalal Mustafa Mohammed was elected as President, Jaafar Othman Khabat as Vice President, and Ata Mohammed as Secretary of the General Assembly," the statement added.

The Movement for Change Party, commonly known as Gorran (which means "change" in Kurdish), is a political party in Iraqi Kurdistan (KRI) founded in 2009 by Nawshirwan Mustafa. It emerged as the largest opposition force in KRI, challenging the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party on issues of corruption and nepotism. Gorran initially made significant gains, securing 25 seats in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)'s parliament in 2009, and eight seats in the Iraqi parliament in 2010. However, its popularity has declined in recent years, with a notable drop to 12 seats in the 2018 Regional elections, while the KDP and PUK continued to dominate.