Kurd Runoff Needed as Main Parties Split Vote

The Iraqi Kurds’ first democratic elections resulted in a Parliament split between the two major parties and will require a runoff vote for president, the Kurds’ electoral commission announced Friday.

The commission said neither Masoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party nor Jalal Talabani, the rival chief of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, won 50% of Tuesday’s vote for “single leader” of the Iraqi Kurdish people. There were several other minor candidates.

The Kurdistan Front, the umbrella organization for the seven Kurdish parties, said the runoff will be held within two months.

The parties of Barzani and Talabani each won 50 seats in the 105-seat Parliament, with the other five seats divided between two Assyrian minority groups, the electoral commission said.

An estimated 1.2 million Iraqi Kurds voted Tuesday to elect a single leader and a Parliament.

Barzani and Talabani are divided on how to deal with Baghdad, which declared the Kurdish election illegal and said it would not respect the results.

Barzani prefers to reach an understanding with Saddam Hussein to obtain autonomy for the Kurds, while Talabani believes the Kurds should not negotiate with the Iraqi leader.

The Kurds have controlled a strip of northern Iraq since last summer, when they were resettled by a U.S.-led military force. As many as 1.5 million Kurds had fled the country when their uprising against Hussein failed after the Persian Gulf War.

Barzani and Talabani each control tens of thousands of fiercely loyal guerrillas. Kurds traditionally have followed clan ties and have no experience of democracy.

The two leaders announced late Thursday that they would work for unity. “Our appearance here together shows that we are prepared to override our interests for the sake of the Kurdish people,” Barzani said at a news conference with Talabani.