Election Day and Mam Jalal votes

Today is election day for the central government in Baghdad. For Kurds the only impact of this election is the size of muscle they can use on the government. All actual day to day government functions are handled by the KRG (Kurdish Regional Government). In contrast to the three weeks, all is very quiet in the city today - the airport and all borders are closed (including the internal border between Arab Iraq and Kurdstan), long distance travel is banned and there are checkpoints every where. In Arab Iraq over 1000 people have died this month, while in Kurdistan there has been no trouble at all. However in Khanquin in the the disputed territories, a suicide bomber killed 30 people and injured 50 others at a Kurdish political rally on Tuesday.

Tuesday was a pretty ordinary day and while I was waiting for Bwar to drop off some books at the library, I was aware of distant gunfire. I was not concerned as gunfire is common here, though unusual during the day. More shots were fired and this time a good deal closer and then Bwar returned to tell me the news.

Kurdstat television had just shown a short item of Jalal Talabani casing an early vote in Germany. Affectionately know as Mam Jalal (Uncle), he is the current President of Iraq, a staunch Kurdish nationalist and leader of the local PUK Party (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan). He has only been seen once since December 2012 when he was rushed of to Germany for medical treatment after a massive stroke. There have been all sorts of rumours that he was actually dead.

Slemani just erupted in celebration and within half an hour the central city was chaotic with PUK supporters ecstatic at the news. The traffic jam and noise continued through to mid-night and the gunfire was continuous.