The President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, received British Ambassador to Iraq Stephen Hitchen in Salahaddin on Wednesday.
The two sides exchanged views on the political situation in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Barzani stressed that the KDP has been the initiator of elections since 1991 and has always won the majority of votes in elections.
He said the elections have been postponed for two years under various political pretexts and external incitement.
The KDP leader stated the party wants elections to be held, but apart from external interference and the “deliberate political decisions” from the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court, which he said were aimed at breaking the KDP.
Barzani said the KDP will not be subjected to the “unconstitutional” decisions of the federal court, which he said has positioned itself in both the legislative and executive branches.
He also stressed that he considered the remarks and demands of the KDP to be legal and within the framework of the Iraqi constitution for holding fair and transparent elections.
The KDP president referred to what he considered a Baghdad policy of starving and cutting the budget of the Kurdistan Region and stressed it was possible to deal politically with the budget while there was an effort to weaken and break the will of the Kurdish people.
He explained to the delegation that the KDP relied on the legitimacy of the Kurdish cause and that the Kurdistan Region was created with the blood and tears of the Kurdish people, not by decisions outside the will of the people.
The British ambassador stressed the UK has been supporting the Kurdistan Region since the early 1990s and stated Britain supports a strong and stable Kurdistan.
He noted the role of the KDP in the political process in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region is important and that the political process and elections in Kurdistan would not be complete without the role of the party.
Hitchen said he understood the KDP’s concerns and that the UK would help to resolve issues to hold free and transparent elections.
