Shafaq News/ The Kurdish and political parties in Kirkuk province agreed on Monday to contest in local elections in the disputed province between Erbil and Baghdad in a unified list.

After the meeting, representatives of parties held a joint press conference in which the leader of the Islamic Movement in Kirkuk, Hassan al-Sheikhani, read a statement announcing their participation in the elections in a unified electoral list.

The statement called Kirkuk Provincial Council to convene as soon as possible to ratify the names of candidates in a list.

The statement urged the masses of parties in the list to update the biometric record at the polling stations.

The parties held this morning in a meeting at the headquarters of the Communist Party of Kurdistan in the province by boycotting the first party in Kurdistan region which is Kurdistan Democratic Party, which refuses to participate in the political process in Kirkuk unless the situation in the province is normalized and return to what it was before 16 October 2017.

For his part, the deputy head of Kirkuk headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Rond Mullah Mahmoud said during the conference that Kurdistan Democratic Party was informed of the meeting and supports the Kurdish parties to contest in Kirkuk elections in a unified list.

He noted that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan will try during meetings to be held with his ally , the Kurdish Democratic on the participation of the latter in Kirkuk elections to join the list.

Mulla Mahmoud pointed out that the Kurdish parties are working to amend the law of provincial elections, amended by the Iraqi Council of Representatives.