The province of Kirkuk (northern Iraq) remains the subject of political conflicts that exceed other Iraqi provinces, due to the combination of its components and nationalities, so that the disputes of electoral districts float on the scene, due to the Turkmens' sense of injustice towards the three districts approved by the parliament for the province.

Al-Tai does not see the injustice of the Turkmen in Kirkuk by implementing the parliament's decision to distribute electoral districts (social media)

The spark of disagreement
was the division of Kirkuk into three electoral districts the reason for raising the ire of the Turkmen, as Abbas al-Bayati, vice president of the Turkmen National Movement in Kirkuk, explained to Al Jazeera Net, that the northern constituency will be more like the Khalisa of the Kurds as they constitute the largest percentage in it, and the Arabs correspond to them in the western constituency;

While the Arabs do not see the stupidity of being a parliamentary decision in the first place, in addition to the geographical distribution factor, according to the official spokesman for the Arab Council in Kirkuk, Hatem Al-Taie, stressing that the high density of the Kurds in the northern regions of the province and the density of Arabs in the western regions served the two nationalities, but it is the reality of the situation.

Al-Taie added that the problem of the Turkmens is a composite of their geographical distribution, which is mostly limited to the central regions of Kirkuk and a few numbers far apart outside the central region that are difficult to collect in one circle, in addition to their small population percentage compared to Arabs and Kurds, which makes them feel aggrieved, which is not true.

PUK leader and election official Ali Muhammad Qalayi agreed with al-Taie, adding that there was no prior consensus between Kurds and Arabs until Turkmens were considered to have been wronged.

Al-Bayati considered that the parliament's decision on the electoral districts inflicted injustice on the Turkmens in favor of the Kurds and Arabs (social media)

Turkmen
solutions In response to the Arabs and Kurds, who consider geographical distribution and population density a reality, Al-Bayati said that we demanded to solve the crisis that Kirkuk be an exceptional case of 4 districts or 3 according to nationalities to resolve conflicts, and with the lack of parliamentary approval, we demand that the number of seats be adjusted so that the northern constituency is 4 seats instead of 5, and the western one remains 3, and the central constituency, which is the subject of the biggest dispute, is 5 instead of 4 seats to obtain fairness, an amendment that the Arabs and Kurds are silent about Claim it.

It may be the silence of the Arabs and Kurds for the amendment to the compatibility of the decision of the departments with the interests expected of them without concluding a joint agreement, which is not supported by the political analyst and head of the Center for Political Thinking, Dr. Ihsan Al-Shammari, he explained to Al Jazeera Net that the lines of circles went largely in favor of the Kurds and Arabs, continuing to say and this indicates that they were drawn on the basis of interests between political forces away from the scientific principle regarding the number of population in terms of existence, which raises major problems in Kirkuk.

He added that the planned division will not make a solution, as the partisan and component view is still dominant, and therefore there is no glimmer of hope as long as the qualitative identities are the ruler at the level of influence and interests, and that the electoral district system is not a salvation from crises as much as it is a service to the influential political forces, which drew the boundaries of the districts in the province according to their benefits, and the districts may increase the crisis of Kirkuk components.

The crises are not limited to the establishment of constituencies on the basis of interests only, as Al-Shammari listed other reasons, foremost of which is the absence of the real representative of Kirkuk, which absent the culture of electing the Kurdish or Arab voters for the Turkmen and vice versa, in addition to the continuation of sectarian and partisan entrenchments.

While Al-Bayati says that the problem of Kirkuk since 2003 is that its decisions go according to the whim of the ruler in it, and that the eternal dilemma "Al-Tikred", pointing to the settlement of about 500,2003 Kurds in the province after the US invasion of Iraq in <>, including non-Iraqi nationalities, and this is the main reason for changing the demographic of Kirkuk, which generated deliberate injustice against the rest of the nationalities, especially the Turkmen.

Al-Shammari attributed the real crisis in Kirkuk to the continuation of sectarian, ethnic and partisan entrenchments (Al Jazeera Net)

Necessity and dangers
Despite all the disadvantages of the division of electoral districts and the deep-rooted problems in the eyes of the Turkmen, they call for no boycott and the need to go to the polls to obtain the minimum possible rights as a presence and representation necessary for their nationality despite the disadvantages of electoral districts, according to Bayati's statement.

For his part, Al-Shammari pointed out that the dilemma is not only in the parliament's approval of the electoral districts law, whose system includes major problems, but also stressed that there is a problem related to the issue of the maturity of the Iraqi voter and how to choose his representative away from partisanship and sectarianism.

Al-Shammari expressed his fear of boycotting the elections in Kirkuk because the climatic atmosphere in the province is not ready, and the scenarios of chaos of the 2018 elections may be repeated, including fraud, detention of ballot boxes and abuses on electoral centers by influential parties, which may cause the withdrawal of legitimacy from the political system and its overthrow.