Unknown assailants gunned down a member of the Change List, a major Kurdish political party in Iraq, in late December, leaving party members infuriated.
Babekir Daraei, a leading official in the Change List, told the Iraqi analytical Web site Niqash the attacks were politically motivated.
"The recent events are very much linked to the electoral competition," he said. "There is lots of injustice practiced against the Change Movement in Kurdistan."
Officials in the Change List were the target of a series of attacks in late 2009. Authorities said personal issues, not political motivations, were the reason for the attacks.
Nawshiran Mustafa, a former deputy in the Kurdish government, formed the Change List in 2009 as a rival to the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party. His party scored a success in Kurdish elections in 2009, taking several seats from the incumbent parties.
Attacks on Change List members and failures to arrest any suspects caused some Kurds to believe the incumbent powers in Iraqi Kurdistan are intimidating opposition movements to secure their power base. Daraei, the Change List official, said, however, he is competing for a seat in March 7 parliamentary elections.
Copyright 2010 by United Press International.
Post new comment