Committee wins appeal against discriminatory amendment to provincial election law

Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against an amendment to the provincial election law that would prevent Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from voting anywhere except their home towns, according to the head of the committee for disputed territories.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against an amendment to the provincial election law that would prevent Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from voting anywhere except their home towns, according to the head of the committee for disputed territories.

Jwan Rozhbayani, a Kurdish lawmaker and head of the committee, announced in a press conference, “we have won the appeal against the provincial election law amendment in the Federal Supreme Court.”

Rozhbayani explained that “article 12 of the amendment law was forcing voters to have their national ration card with them to be able to vote, which is unnecessary as Iraq’s independent high electoral commission has a list of the households and voters.”

“Article 16 prevented Iraqis to vote anywhere outside their governorate, which would have hindered IDPs in Kurdistan and rest of the camps in Iraq from voting, while article 17 was forcing IDPs to vote on election day, which was unconstitutional because voting is a basic right and not compulsory,” added Rozhbayani.

The committee on disputed territories had previously challenged the new election law that prevented IDPs from voting from camps or anywhere other than their original hometowns, most of which are unsafe to return to.

The amendment of the provincial election law was approved by the Iraqi Parliament, which voted on and passed the bill in July 2019.

The Iraqi provincial election was set to begin on April 1, 2020. However, in light of recent developments, it was postponed by the Iraqi Council of Ministers.

Nearly five million Iraqis have been displaced since the so-called Islamic State overran two-thirds of the country in mid-2014. Authorities say half of them have returned to their homes, but the other half remain displaced, with most residing in the Kurdistan Region.

Although their areas have been liberated from the extremist group, about 1.1 million IDPs and refugees continue to stay in the autonomous Kurdish region due to a lack of security and essential services in their hometowns.   
Editing by Nadia Riva