‘IHERC must be reactivated and Kurdistan Parliament elections held on time’: Deputy Speaker
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Parliament Deputy Speaker Hemin Hawrami met with the German Consul General to Erbil Klemens Semtner on Wednesday to discuss the political developments in Iraq and the upcoming elections in the Kurdistan Region.
د. @heminhawrami نائب رئيس برلمان كوردستان يستقبل اليوم ١٣ / ٤ / ٢٠٢٢ كليمينس زيمتنَر القنصل العام لجمهورية ألمانيا الاتحادية في إقليم كوردستان، ويناقش معه آخر المستجدات والتطورات السياسية في إقليم كوردستان والعراق والمنطقة، وقضية انتخابات الإقليم، وحقوق المكونات. pic.twitter.com/KSTboUIsTB
— Kurdistan Parliament (@KurdistanParl) April 13, 2022
“They discussed the latest political developments and the importance for the democratic process of holding a timely Kurdistan Parliament election,” read a statement from the Kurdistan Parliament media office.
“Deputy Speaker Hawrami said that there is no political excuse for Parliament failing so far to renew the mandate of the Kurdistan High Election Commission, which expired in December 2019,” the statement added. “It is Parliament’s legal responsibility to renew the commission’s mandate.”
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Hawrami informed Semtner that the first reading of the bill for reactivating the IHERC must be done as soon as possible.
“There is no political justification for not reactivating the IHERC,” he said.
The deputy speaker also emphasized the importance of protecting the rights of the minorities and upholding their representation in the Kurdistan Parliament. He said the same applies to all other political and religious institutions and civil society organizations.
In a statement on Monday, Kurdistan Parliament Secretary Muna Qahwachi rejected the attempts of some political parties to reduce the number of quota seats allocated for ethnic and religious minorities in parliament, calling such efforts a violation of their rights.
“No political party has the right to decide about the future of the components or their political direction for their own personal or party interest,” she warned. “These actions are illegal and completely rejected by the components.”
