Night protests erupt in Iraq’s Kirkuk over electricity crisis

Shafaq News– Kirkuk

Residents of Kirkuk’s Teseen neighborhood on Sunday night protested prolonged electricity outages, warning of broader demonstrations if authorities fail to act.

Shafaq News correspondent reported that anger has mounted over daily power cuts. “We’ve reached an unbearable point,” resident Ali Qanbar told our agency. “Electricity is cut for long hours despite repeated appeals and complaints.”

Another protester, Abbas Hussein, said the demonstration was peaceful despite protesters burning tires, which meant to “pressure officials to respond.” He added that residents had set a deadline for authorities to restore more stable power supplies.

Protesters called on the local government and the electricity department to carry out urgent maintenance and fix network faults, as the crisis “could no longer be delayed.”

The protest follows similar demonstrations in recent weeks across Kirkuk. In December 2025, residents in other neighborhoods also took to the streets over frequent outages and limited supply hours. The province has long suffered from weak electricity provision; in 2022, then-governor Rakan Al-Jubouri said the province received only about 10 hours of national grid power per day, among the lowest levels in Iraq, compared with up to 20–24 hours in some other provinces.

Iraq has faced chronic electricity shortages for decades due to war damage, aging infrastructure, and rising demand. National power generation meets only about half of demand, with estimated needs of 50,000–55,000 megawatts versus actual output of around 28,000 megawatts, according to the Eco Iraq Observatory.

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