Kurdistan Parliament calls on UNAMI to support and monitor elections

Dler S. Mohammed 2022/04/18 17:08

Deputy Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament Hemin Hawrami in meeting with UNAMI’s Kurdistan Region Office Head Ricardo Rodriguez, April 18, 2022. (Photo: Kurdistan Parliament Media Office)

Kurdistan Ricardo Rodriguez Hemin Hawrami Kurdistan Parliament Kurdistan elections 2022 UNAMI

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Deputy Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament Hemin Hawrami called on the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) on Monday to support and monitor the autonomous region’s upcoming parliamentary elections set to be held on Oct. 1.

Hawrami made the call during a meeting with UNAMI’s Kurdistan Region Office Head Ricardo Rodriguez in his office in the parliament.

The Head of UNAMI’s Regional Office in Kurdistan Region, Ricardo Rodriguez, met today in Erbil w/ Dr. Hemn Hawrami, Deputy Speaker of @KurdistanParl . Discussion focused on preparations for upcoming Kurdistan parliamentary elections, and UN support to the electoral process. pic.twitter.com/bKDy6AhBzE
— UNAMI (@UNIraq) April 18, 2022

Hawrami explained to Rodriguez the legal and technical steps ahead of holding the parliamentary elections and emphasized the importance of UNAMI’s support for ensuring elections will be fair and transparent.

The Deputy Speaker also emphasized the importance of cooperation between the Kurdistan Region’s Independent High Electoral and Referendum Commission (IHERC) and Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), particularly IHERC using IHEC’s biometric voter data for the upcoming election.

The Kurdistan Region elections are scheduled for Oct. 1. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and political parties representing minorities in the region support holding the elections on time. However, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and several smaller parties prefer delaying them.

The PUK and some other Islamic political parties call for amending the elections law, including reducing the number of quota seats allocated for minority groups.

The KDP and the representatives of the minorities in the parliament strongly reject reducing the number of quota seats. They also disagree with amending the elections law because they believe it will delay the elections.

They argue that bringing the elections law back to the parliament for amendment will take far too long since it will require lengthy discussions and several sessions. Therefore, they prefer only to reactivate the elections law in its current form to hold the elections on time and delay its amendment until after the elections.