Iraq electoral commission confirms no exclusion of KDP candidates for Duhok
“the Board of Commissioners did not issue any decision to exclude any candidate for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) or even any candidate from other political parties.”
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Independent High Electoral Commission in Iraq has confirmed that no candidates from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) for Duhok Governorate have been excluded from the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Emad Jamil, a top official from the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday that “the Board of Commissioners did not issue any decision to exclude any candidate for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) or even any candidate from other political parties.”
The KDP has nominated 48 candidates for Duhok in the sixth term of the Kurdistan Parliament. Reports had circulated about one candidate being disqualified due to being born in an Article 140 area.
However, a source from the KDP’s Duhok office clarified that all 48 candidates were submitted to the Duhok branch of the Iraqi Electoral Commission on July 18, 2024.
The source added that the Commission of Integrity, along with other departments in Baghdad, is currently scrutinizing the candidate lists. The process may take another week, but no candidates have been excluded thus far.
The source also mentioned that any legal issues concerning the candidates would be addressed in coordination with the Iraqi Electoral Commission.
The KDP has submitted its full list of candidates for the sixth round of elections for the Kurdistan Regional Parliament across Erbil, Dohuk, and Sulaymaniyah. According to the Independent High Electoral Commission's rules, each list participating in the Kurdistan Parliament elections can nominate twice the number of seats in each governorate.
The KDP has put forward 190 candidates as follows:
- Erbil: 64 candidates
- Dohuk: 48 candidates
- Sulaymaniyah: 72 candidates
- Halabja: 6 candidates
As of Monday, July 15, two coalitions, 11 political parties, and 35 candidates have submitted their names for the upcoming elections.
The Board of Commissioners outlined the distribution of the 100 Kurdistan Parliament seats as follows:
Erbil: 34 seats, including one for the Christian component and one for the Turkmen component.
Sulaymaniyah: 38 seats, including one seat for the Christian component and one seat for the Turkmen component.
Dohuk: 25 seats, including one seat for the Christian component.
Halabja: 3 seats, without any seats for components.
According to IHEC spokesperson Jumana al-Ghalai:
Erbil province has 1,366,462 registered voters, with 1,016,357 having obtained biometric cards.
Sulaimani and Halabja provinces have 1,496,000 voters, of which 1,146,000 have received biometric cards.
Duhok province reports 926,000 voters as of July 3, 2024, with 738,000 having secured biometric cards.
Overall, the total number of voters for the sixth round of the Kurdistan parliamentary elections is 3,789,000, with 2,901,000 of them having been issued biometric cards, according to IHEC.
On June 27, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani announced that the general elections for the Kurdistan Region Parliament will be held on October 20.
The Iraqi Independent High Election Commission has affirmed its readiness to organize the election on the designated date.
