While the official results are yet to be announced, the initial results indicate a major upset in Kurdish politics. Huge gains have been made by the liberal Goran (Change) Party which is now the second largest party after the KDP (Erbil based/Barzani family), pushing the PUK (Sulaymaniyah based/Talibani family) well into third place. More importantly Goran leads in Sulaymaniyah, previously the PUK stronghold.
Once the results were announced on Saturday night Goran supporters hit the streets in the usual rowdy flag waving and car tooting celebration that seems the norm here. Also traditional is the firing of guns in the air, but the police moved quickly to sort that out and the PM asked that people end this practice. Apparently during such celebrations it is best to keep off roof tops as the trigger happy have tendency to wave the guns around without too much thought when firing bullets.
Now things are pretty much back to normal and it is a good reflection on Kurdish political maturity that they can have fair and free elections without the violence that dogs the middle east.
Once the results were announced on Saturday night Goran supporters hit the streets in the usual rowdy flag waving and car tooting celebration that seems the norm here. Also traditional is the firing of guns in the air, but the police moved quickly to sort that out and the PM asked that people end this practice. Apparently during such celebrations it is best to keep off roof tops as the trigger happy have tendency to wave the guns around without too much thought when firing bullets.
Now things are pretty much back to normal and it is a good reflection on Kurdish political maturity that they can have fair and free elections without the violence that dogs the middle east.
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