Six political parties of Rojhelat (eastern, Iranian) Kurdistan called on the Kurdish people in Iran to boycott the upcoming Iranian presidential elections as well as the Cities and Villages Councils elections.

Six main political parties of Rojhelat (eastern, Iranian) Kurdistan held a meeting today to discuss a joint decision on the upcoming presidential elections in Iran as well as the Cities and Villages Councils elections. The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, The Komala (population) of the Kurdistan Toilers, the Kurdish branch of the Communist Party of Iran Komala, the Democratic Party of Kurdistan, the Organization of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle and the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan attended in the meeting Thursday April 27.

This was the second meeting of these parties for discussing and declaring a joint decision on the elections. On April 6, 2017, these parties held their first meeting and declared they were going to boycott the presidential election, but at the same time, they stated their meetings would be continued for getting a joint decision on both the presidential and the Cities and Villages Councils elections which will be hold in the same day on May 19.

After the meeting, they held a press conference and read their announcement.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is going to hold the presidential elections and the Cities and Villages Councils elections on May 19. These so-called elections are not able to be called free elections based on the todays’ standards. In a situation that the political opposition parties have been forbidden, expressing free opinion is criminalized, the Kurdistan’s people do not have any national and humanitarian right, these co-called elections mean depriving the people from their self-determination right and is considered as one of the causes of prolonging the existence of Islamic Republic and the arbitrary and oppressive regime in Iran”, they announced by their statement.