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Kurdistan
Dilshad Shahab, Kurdistan Region Presidency spokesperson, speaking to reporters in Erbil on June 8, 2023. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A delegation from the Kurdistan Region Presidency recently visited Baghdad, discussing the Region’s upcoming election with the Iraqi electoral body, said the Kurdish presidential spokesperson on Thursday.
Dilshad Shahab, Kurdistan Region Presidency spokesperson, told reporters on Thursday that the delegation recently held meetings with the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) and other relevant authorities in Baghdad.
“They [commission] expressed their full readiness to begin preparations for the election in coordination with the relevant authorities in the Kurdistan Region and the Kurdistan Presidency,” he said, adding that the commission has also said that they would prioritise the upcoming Iraqi local election over the Region’s parliamentary one.
Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary poll is scheduled for November 18. Shahab said that no date has officially been set for the Iraqi local election but the suggested date is December 18. The provincial vote does not include the Kurdistan Region's provinces.
The Region was supposed to hold the general vote last year but the age of the parliament was extended for one year by the legislature itself - a move recently ruled “unconstitutional” by the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court.
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 high court’s ruling also cancels all laws passed after the Kurdistan parliament’s self-extension, including the one renewing the Kurdish electoral body’s mandate.
“It would be better if we [Kurdish electoral commission] held our election but now our priority is the holding of the vote so that the Region passes the legal space,” said the Kurdistan Region Presidency’s spokesperson in the press conference.
After meeting with the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, a Kurd, told Rudaw last week that the IHEC would supervise the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary election.
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