Kurdistan’s Judicial Council approves Sept. 30 parliamentary election results

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Judicial Council on Tuesday approved the results of the Sept. 30 parliamentary election, paving the way for newly-elected lawmakers to hold their first session.

“After reviewing all the complaints of the parties for the parliamentary election… the commission of judges approved the results of the election on party and candidate levels,” a Judicial Council statement read.

Kurdistan’s parliamentary election kicked off on Sept. 30 for over three million voters, the first regional elections since the defeat of the so-called Islamic State.

On Oct. 20, the Kurdistan Region’s Independent High Election and Referendum Commission (IHERC) announced the final result of the vote.

According to the result, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which led the 2017 independence referendum, won the election with a significant margin, gaining 688,070 votes. The party secured 45 seats in the Region’s 111-seat parliament.

Ahead of the elections, the KDP was still the largest faction in the Kurdistan Region’s Parliament with 38 seats. After the 2018 election, the party won seven more seats.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) came in second, securing 21 seats with 319,912 votes, followed by Gorran with 186,903 votes and 12 seats.

New Generation won eight seats, the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG) won seven, and Toward Reform Coalition won five. Sardam and Azadi (Freedom) won one seat each.

Among the Kurdistan Region’s minority parties, the Turkmen parties secured five seats, the Christian parties with five, and an Armenian party secured one seat. In total, minorities have 11 quota seats in the Kurdistan Parliament.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany