Elections & Snow

*Yesterday, it snowed in most areas of Kurdistan. Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP has asked for postponing the elections in January because most people in the villages will be stuck because of the snow therefore they can't vote. What is the rush for ?!

*a group of Kurdish individuals have decided to nominate themselves for the Kurdistan elections under the name of "Kurdistan Democratic Alliance". They say that they are not intending of creating a new political party but they insist that the future of Kurdistan should be decided by its people. They promise to hold a referendum on the future of Kurdistan in case they win. PUK & KDP want to stay in Iraq, but most people don't. Therefore they will get many votes if they have a good campaign.
This is a crucial event. Because power in Kurdistan have been divided between the PUK and the KDP . People think that these two parties are corrupted in most of their organisations, have been involved in civil war, have lost their grip on Kirkuk, and many more.

According to a poll published in the weekly of "Hawlati" a couple of weeks ago, more than %43.1 of the participants said they will not vote for PUK & KDP but vote for an independent list.

*In PUK-controlled Kurdistan, cars made before 1995 are being put off the road. A new law which makes pre-1995 cars illegal means that those who have taxis and buses can get up to $5000 for exchange of their old cars.

* Talking about elections is everywhere. People fear that if PUK or KDP wins, the loser will declare war on the other. But, both of the leaders of KDP & PUK, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani have given the "promise of honour" in some newspapers that they will accept the results of the elections whatever they are.

* According to the Iraqi government, only %8 of the Iraqi oil revenue is given to Kurdistan in the 2005. Before the war, the Kurdistan Government was getting %13 from the United Nations Oil for Food programme.