KDP declines submission of candidates as deadline remains unextended
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Political Bureau has announced that their party will not partake in the upcoming Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) parliamentary elections.
The spokesman for the commission overseeing the elections also affirmed that there would be no extension of the deadline for receiving candidates.
Sarbast Lazgin, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Political Bureau and head of the Organization Bureau in Duhok, emphasized to Kurdistan24 on Sunday, March 31, that "The KDP's position remains unchanged. We will not submit the list of candidates to the IHEC. We will not participate."
“Our Political Party’s stance remains unchanged. We reiterate the last announcement by the KDP’s politburo. Under the current situation, KDP’s stance is non-participation,” he stressed.
As today marks the deadline for political parties and coalitions to submit their candidate lists to the Independent High Election Commission (IHEC), Lazgin stated, "We have not requested an extension of the deadline from the commission, and we will not submit our list of candidates to the Iraqi Election Commission today."
He further expressed the KDP's opposition to recent decisions by the Federal Court regarding the abolition of certain parliamentary seats and issues regarding salaries, deeming them as detrimental to the constitutional institutions of the Kurdistan Region. "The aim of these decisions is to weaken our constitutional institutions, and thus, we reject them," Lazgin emphasized.
On the other hand, the Iraqi Independent High Election Commission (IHEC) has made it clear that the deadline for receiving candidate lists will not be prolonged beyond June. As of now, neither the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) nor the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have submitted their candidate lists for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The commission reported the following submissions from various regions:
- Erbil: One coalition, three parties, and 17 independent candidates.
- Sulaimani: One coalition, two parties, and 21 independent candidates.
- Duhok: Two coalitions, two parties, and 15 independent candidates.
- Halabja: Two coalitions, one party, and no independent candidates.
According to the spokesman, a total of 3,789,360 individuals are eligible to vote in the Kurdistan Region, out of which 2,783,552 have renewed their voter cards, comprising more than one million voters, or 26% of the total voter count, who have not yet renewed their biometric cards.
Joumana Ghallay, the commission's spokesperson, disclosed that preliminary results would be announced within 24 hours after the election, initially at the party and candidate level and subsequently at the polling station level after 72 hours.
KRG’s President Nechirvan Barzani had previously decreed that June 10, 2024, would mark the commencement of the sixth session of the Kurdistan Regional Parliament, setting the stage for a significant political milestone in the region.