PM Barzani sets date of Kurdistan election

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has set the date that the next elections for the Kurdistan Region's parliament will be held.

A source from the KRG Council of Ministers told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday that the vote will take place on September 30 of this year.

The decision was made less than a week before Iraq holds national parliamentary elections that will include provinces that are part of the Kurdistan Region. Though the semi-autonomous federal region of Iraq has its own parliament, national representatives from the region also sit in Baghdad's Council of Representatives.

The elections were originally set to take place on Nov. 01, 2017, but were delayed due to complications following the region's September independence referendum.

The delay was proposed by the Kurdistan Parliament and approved by 60 out of 71 MPs attending a session in October, shortly after Iraqi forces and Iran-backed militias pushed Kurdish Peshmerga forces from disputed territories.

Editing by John J. Catherine