Iraqi Kurdistan's main opposition party, the Gorran, has come in second in the recent parliamentary elections, according to Reuters. Preliminary results show that Gorran, the "Change" party, received 446, 095 votes in last week's election. However, only 95 percent of the votes have been counted thus far and the final results are still "unclear," according to the report.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), who shared power in the previous cabinet, came in first and third with 719, 004 and 323, 827 votes, respectively. Two Islamic parties received the fourth and fifth spots, followed by several other smaller parties.
The Gorran party was established prior to the last Kurdistan Regional Government election in 2009 largely in response to growing frustration among the population related to corruption and lack of transparency in government activities, particularly in terms of oil revenue expenditures. The current election is particularly relevant in terms of the latter oil expenditures as Kurdish laborers work to complete the final portion of an oil export pipeline connected to Turkey that has the potential to make the Kurdistan region of Iraq financially self-sufficient.
There are 100 seats in the KRG, with 11 seat designated for minorities. How seats will be allocated for each party has not yet been announced or determined, according to the article.
