Kurds, Sunnis boycott Parliament session over budget, elections date

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdish and Sunni Arab factions on Wednesday boycotted an Iraqi Parliament session over issues related to the 2018 national budget and the date of the upcoming elections in the country.

The Iraqi Council of Representatives was scheduled to hold its regular session to discuss several topics and bills including the first reading of the 2018 national budget, the parliamentary and provincial elections date, and discussions of the Arabization policy implemented by Iraqi authorities in Kirkuk.

However, the session was postponed for Thursday due to a boycott by Kurdish and Sunni Members of Parliament over disagreements with the ruling Shia parties regarding the election date and budget law, Kurdish MP Masoud Haider said.

“The Presidency of Parliament held a meeting with the head of the parliamentary blocs and leaders of the related parliamentary committees to discuss the budget and elections,” he added.

Haider revealed that the budget law would no longer be on the Parliament’s agenda until a meeting was held between the Parliament’s presidency and committees, and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi “to discuss and finalize the law within a week’s time.”

The Kurdish MP noted that Abadi’s government had not taken the rights of the Kurdistan Region into consideration in this year’s budget, adding that Kurds would not accept the current financial plan.

Haider hoped that the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) decision not to grant loans to Iraq until Kurdistan’s share of the budget was increased from 6.6 billion IQD to 10 billion would “put pressure on the Iraqi government to make changes to the law accordingly.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany