The Kurdistan Region is living in a deep crisis of distrust, which is reflected in the lack of trust in the administrative, political and legal institutions of the Region. The issue of political distrust has entered a more dangerous stage with the financial and economic crisis in the Kurdistan Region. Politicians and institutions that once had the trust and hope of citizens, they have recently been facing a loss of trust for years, so that all institutions are under threat of this crisis. It can be said that the source of this distrust is due to the poor governance experience of the two ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
Several surveys have been conducted among the Kurdish people to measure the level of people’s trust to the governing institutions. Nearly, all survey results show that the level of people’s trust to the governing intuitions is very weak. For example, a survey conducted in 2008 in the Kurdistan Region among 5366 participants, showed that only 7 percent of respondents in the Kurdistan Region trusted the government and the parliament of the Region, which means 93% of the respondents did not trust the Kurdistan government and the Kurdistan parliament. Following the removal of Saddam in 2003, the economy of the Kurdistan Region is boosted due to the increasing the Kurdish budget by the new Iraqi government to 17 percent of the Iraqi budget, this improved the income the economic situation of the Kurdish people between 2003 and 2013, and of course this economic prosperity increases the people’s trust to the governing institutions to some extent. In 2011, when the Kurdistan Region was at its peak of economic prosperity, 53 percent of citizens trusted the KRG, while 47 percent did not. According to a survey conducted by the Kurdistan Institute, only 14 percent of citizens did not trust the KRG. With the onset of the financial crisis and the weak performance of the Kurdistan Regional Government, political trust to government institutions in the Kurdistan Region has declined significantly. For instance, results of a survey in 2013 showed that only 43 percent of citizens trusted the KRG. The financial crisis and the poor performance of the governing institutions in the Kurdistan Region have reduced the political trust of the citizens in the institutions to a minimum level. A survey, conducted in 2019 in all four provinces of the Kurdistan Region, shows that citizens’ trust to government services is very weak. According to the survey, 48 percent of citizens do not trust the health sector in the Kurdistan Region, only 36 percent of respondents trusted the education sector. More than half of the respondents were satisfied with the provision of clean water. However, 61 percent of citizens are dissatisfied with electricity services and do not trust the government in this regard. Only 11 percent of respondents trusted the government to provide them with jobs, while 77 percent believed the armed forces in the Kurdistan Region were loyal to the ruling parties than the country and the implementation of official laws and regulations. Only 21 percent of respondents believe that the Kurdish armed forces implement the court’s decisions. Additionally, 57 percent of citizens do not trust the armed forces to defend and protect their rights. According to the survey, 80 percent of respondents do not trust the government to spend the money received from taxation or the huge revenues from the sale of natural resources to serve the people. Overall, 66.63 percent of citizens do not trust the government, and 84 percent of citizens do not trust the government officials.
According to another survey conducted by the Independent Incorporated for Adm. And Civil Society Studies, 82 percent of Kurdistan citizens do not trust the parliament. In a latest survey conducted by the Drawmedia, a Kurdish free media based in the Kurdistan Region, 3320 public employees asked this question: which one do you trust to receive your salary, the KRG’s bank named “ My Account” or the Iraqi banks? 74 percent of respondents rejected “My Account”, only 23% of participants preferred “My Account”, and 3 percent of participants trust neither KRG’s bank no Iraqi banks.
Generally speaking, the political trust among the Kurdish community in the Kurdistan region to the governing institutions are very weak. This is due to poor governance in the Kurdistan Region, which characterized by widespread corruption, lack of transparency and political outbidding.
