An Iraqi independent news agency has reported that the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) will not be participating in the next Kurdish government. According to the report:
A leading figure in the Kurdistan Islamic Union on Sunday said it will not participate in the next Kurdish government, but will act as an opposition bloc to monitor government performance. “Several meetings have been held throughout the past days with those assigned to form a new government for the Kurdistan region. We have been officially invited to participate in the government, but we have announced our official and final stance…,” Khalil Ibrahim told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. On Wednesday (Sept. 30), President of Iraq’s Kurdistan region Massoud al-Barazani assigned Prime Minister Barham Saleh and his deputy Azad Barwari to form a new government for the region more than two months after presidential and parliamentary elections were held in the region.
The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood had earlier identified the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kurdistan. A previous post from August reported that the KIU had won nine parliamentary seats in the Kurdistan National Assembly July 25 elections while the political coalition that the KIU led in the elections, the Reform & Services List gained approximately 12.8% of the electorate vote.
The BBC has a short profile on the KIU:
Also known as Yekgirtu, the Kurdish Islamic Union is the largest Islamic organisation in Iraqi Kurdistan. It was formally established in 1994. The group’s leaders fought the 1992 legislative elections in Kurdish-controlled Iraq, winning third place behind the KDP and PUK. The party is currently led by Secretary-General Sheikh Salah al-Din Muhammad Baha al-Din. The party is supported mainly by donations from Saudi Islamic organisations. Active in charity work in the region, the party has been building mosques, clinics and schools in rural areas, where it has a strong following.
For the KIU website, go here.