Christian political parties to boycott Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Christian political parties announced in a press conference on Monday that they would boycott the Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections which are to be held on June 10.

The political parties consist of the Chaldean Democratic Union, the World Chaldean Alliance, the Syriac Assembly Movement, the Shlama Trend for Christian Affairs, the Chaldean National Congress, the Taif Executive Committee Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Cultural Association, The Unity Alliance of Iraq and the Hammurabi coalition.

The boycott is due to an Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ruling on Feb. 21, which removed quota seats from the Kurdistan Region Parliament.

They called the ruling an “attack on coexistence and violation of the constitution.”

They also pointed out that the decision of the Federal Court was the result of a historical error by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to gain current political advantage.

Additionally, they urged that parliamentary elections be held as soon as possible to preserve the democratic experience in the Kurdistan Region and to strengthen its constitutional framework.

As per Article 36 of the Kurdistan Parliamentary Election Law, five seats were reserved for Chaldeans, Syrians, and Assyrians, one for Armenians and five for Turkmens, but the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq annulled the 11 seats on Feb. 21.

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on March 3, set June 10 for parliamentary elections.

Every four years, Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections are held to elect the 111 members. The election was first held in 1992 and the most recent election was held in 2018.

Dawid Salman, the Director of the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission, previously told Kurdistan24 that there are 3.6 million eligible voters in the Kurdistan Region.