ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is set to join forces with two Arab parties in Nineveh province for the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections. An official from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said the move risks splitting the Kurdish vote in the province.

The PUK will enter the November elections in Nineveh as part of an alliance with the Raf’a al-Wataniyah and Masirah al-Wataniyah parties.

“The KDP has no alliances in Nineveh and will enter the elections as one list,” Nadhim Kabir, a KDP official in the province told The New Region on Monday. “The PUK alliance in Nineveh will lead to the splitting of the Kurdish vote in the province.”

The KDP official noted that the party tried to form an alliance comprising all the Kurdish parties to participate in the elections in the disputed areas, “but it appears that some parties had their own agenda so the attempt was unsuccessful.”

Saadi Ahmed Pira, PUK politburo member, defended the party’s decision and rejected the claims that the move would lead to splitting the Kurdish vote.

“We have formed an alliance with two progressive Arab parties in Nineveh. I think it will be in the interest of the Kurds if other Kurdish parties try to work together in this alliance,” the PUK official told The New Region.

Pira argued that the Arab parties’ decision to coalesce with the PUK means that they will not adopt anti-Kurdish sentiments, justifying his party’s move by stating that “Kurds do not make up a majority in Nineveh, and that is why we need strong coalitions to strengthen the Kurdish position.”

Iraq is set to hold parliamentary elections on November 11, with over 29 million people eligible to vote.

The PUK and Raf’a previously joined forces for the 2023 provincial council elections under the name the Union of Nineveh People. The alliance secured two seats on the council for the Kurdish party. The KDP was the second party in the province, gaining four seats.

The Kurdistan Region’s Prime Minister and KDP Deputy President Masrour Barzani, during the April Sulaimani Forum, had stressed the importance of ensuring and unifying the Kurdish stance in the Iraqi parliament, regardless of whether or not the parties form alliances or run separately.

The KDP had previously expressed its willingness to form alliance with the PUK in the disputed areas for the upcoming elections.