In response to remarks by the PUK Leader Bafel Talabani, Malla Bakhtiar, the member of the Supreme Council of Political Affairs and Interests of the PUK, said: "The words that Bafel Talabani made about me are political and (his) purpose behind the remarks is to get electoral votes in the upcoming elections," Shar Press reported.
"I am a member of the Supreme Political and Interest Council of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and I have nothing to do with Bafel Talabani's party issues," Malla Bakhtiar said, severely criticizing the current state of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan under the leadership of Bafel Talabani.
He added: The political office and the leadership hold a meeting every 6 months and manipulate the rules and move the posts, but I have not taken a position so far. I have also said in the political council that if you succeed, it is a source of honor and pride, and if you fail, we will express our ideas at the party congress.
He went on to say: "In the history of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, we had never seen that the party's internal rules manipulated three times after the congress was held. At the same time, I said that the joint presidency is not useful, and after a year, we saw what happened to you. After the Hakkari incident, the political situation of the PUK has not been so bad, but Bafel Talabani does not accept this."
Malla Bakhtiar reminded Bafel Talabani of the documents of the critical situation of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and said: "In 2014, the PUK obtained 847,711 votes, while Bafel Talabani, Lahore Sheikh Jangi and some others did not have a place in the political school or the leadership council, and that I was in charge of the elections."
He pointed to some other information about the critical situation of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and said to Bafel Talabani: "From 2014 to 2021 and in the last 4 years, the Congress was formed and the party is in your hands, and you were the co-chairman for one year, and then you took the lead alone. In the 2021 elections, you got 355,591 votes, which is a total of 492,120 votes different from 2014."
At the same time, he also pointed out that in the 2014 elections, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan obtained 528,122 votes in the 4 provinces of the Kurdistan Region, while in 2021, with all the financial abilities and media power and the many facilities that the PUK enjoyed, from a total of 528,000 votes, the PUK only won 214,000 votes. This member of the PUK High Council added: In 2014 the PUK won 168,688 votes in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan region, while in 2021, this party won 65,316 votes, which suffers 103,372 votes lost.
Reporter's code: 50101