KDP supports holding Kurdistan parliamentary elections on time, says official

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) supports holding the sixth parliamentary elections on time which is set for February 2024, a party official told Kurdistan24 on Thursday. 

Ashwaq Jaff, the head of the KDP Baghdad Branch, in an interview with Kurdistan24, said that her party rejects delaying the election, which has already been delayed by a year.

“Any delay to the election is politically motivated,” Jaff told Kurdistan24, saying the Region’s democracy no longer handles delaying elections.

Lawsuits have been filed at the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court against the Kurdistan Region electoral law, rejecting the single-consistency model and the quota seats of the religious and ethnic components. The Court has adjourned the session to late Jan. 2024.

Regarding the 11 quota seats of the ethnic and religious components in the Kurdistan Parliament’s 111-chamber, the party official said those components should be able to freely elect their representatives, as President Masoud Barzani and the United Nations Assistance Mission (UNAMI) had previously supported.

Following a one-year delay to the election, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in August set Feb. 25, 2024, as the new date for the election.

A Region’s top official has recently told Kurdistan24 that there are currently no hurdles to holding the elections on time.

Read More: Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections to be held on time, says presidency official

In the absence of an active Kurdistan electoral mission mandate, the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) will organize the parliamentary elections.