KHANAQIN, Iraq, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Kurdish lawmakers met with residents in the northern cities of Iraq's Diyala province Wednesday to urge them to vote in the provincial elections Saturday.
Mala Bakhtiyar with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan visited supporters in the northern Diyala city of Khanaqin in an effort to increase voter turnout and promise aid to the region, the party's media branch reported.
"We have a long way ahead to build and construct the new Iraq; therefore we should work together to achieve that goal," he said. "The citizens should elect those who they think are suitable and loyal to build and construct Iraq."
Tensions between the Iraqi military and the Kurdish Peshmerga force approached the point of conflict last summer in Khanaqin related to disputes over jurisdiction. Kurdish forces had claimed authority over certain areas of Diyala, though Iraqi government officials downplayed the significance of the row.
Kurdish officials denied any attempts to annex parts of northern Diyala, though Kurdish President Massoud Barzani noted in September that 99 percent of the Khanaqin population voted for Kurdish parties in 2005.
Bakhtiyar said parts of northern Diyala suffered from neglect and announced the Kurdistan Regional Government was setting aside $500,000 each for the cities of Qarah Tappah, Jalawla, Qizil Rabat and Mandali.
