Iraqi electoral body to supervise Kurdistan Region elections: Minister

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s foreign minister on Thursday said that the Iraqi electoral commission will organise the Kurdistan Region’s upcoming general elections following the federal court’s ruling deeming the self-extension of the Kurdish parliament “unconstitutional.”

The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against the Kurdistan parliament’s self-extension last year after its term ended. The verdict came days after a controversial bill by the Kurdish legislature renewed the Kurdish electoral body’s mandate which had expired in 2019.

The Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Thursday told Rudaw’s Mustafa Goran that the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) will supervise the Kurdish elections rather than the Region’s Independent High Electoral and Referendum Commission, adding that “this is the decision of the federal court and is clear.”

As per the federal court's decision, any bills passed by the Kurdish parliament after its self-extension are invalid. 

Kurdish political parties, especially the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), have discussed the electoral law, resolving most of their difference except the minority seats. The federal court’s ruling means the elections should be held in the same way they were held in the past. 

Jotiar Adil, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said in a statement on Wednesday that holding elections on time remains their “priority,” calling on the political parties to cooperate.   

Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 18. The IHEC has said that it cannot carry out the Kurdish elections together with the Iraqi local elections in December. 

Hussein said that the KRG “ should continue operating even if it is a caretaker. There should not be an executive vacancy anywhere. Even if the parliament no longer exists, the government should continue [working] until the elections are held.”

The head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert recently described the tensions between KDP and PUK over elections as “very disturbing” and called on all parties to “find common ground.”