Kurdistan
Turkmen parties announce they will be boycotting the Kurdistan Region elections during a press conference in Erbil on March 12, 2024. Photo: Rudaw/screengrab
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A group of Turkmen political parties on Tuesday announced that they will not be participating in the upcoming Kurdistan Region elections following the elimination of the quota seats from the Kurdish legislature.
Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court last month ruled that the 11 quota seats in the Kurdistan Region’s parliament reserved for ethnic and religious minorities were unconstitutional, effectively eliminating the seats.
“We have decided to boycott the elections until the quota system is restored and democracy returns to its own path,” said Karkhi Alti Barmak, a representative of the parties joining the boycott, during a press conference in Erbil, referring to the Iraqi top court’s ruling as “unjustified and unjust.”
Barmak stressed that the elimination of the quota seats is in violation of Article 49 of the Iraqi constitution, adding that the ruling “weakens the principles of democracy” in the Kurdistan Region.
Article 49 of the constitution states that representation of all components of the Iraqi people shall be upheld in the parliament.
The Turkmen parties called on the United Nations, President and Prime Minister of Iraq, and President and Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region to “intervene to revert the decision.”
A number of Christian parties on Monday announced they will be boycotting the elections as well in protest of the court ruling.
The June 10 election will be unique in Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary history, with fewer seats in the legislature, a new constituency system, and the poll administered by the federal commission for the first time due to disagreements between the main Kurdish parties that resulted in the failure to reactivate the regional electoral body.
The election is taking place with about a year and a half delay. It was initially scheduled for October 2022, but was repeatedly postponed because of disagreements between the political parties and pending court cases in Baghdad.
Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court last month ruled that the 11 quota seats in the Kurdistan Region’s parliament reserved for ethnic and religious minorities were unconstitutional, effectively eliminating the seats.
“We have decided to boycott the elections until the quota system is restored and democracy returns to its own path,” said Karkhi Alti Barmak, a representative of the parties joining the boycott, during a press conference in Erbil, referring to the Iraqi top court’s ruling as “unjustified and unjust.”
Barmak stressed that the elimination of the quota seats is in violation of Article 49 of the Iraqi constitution, adding that the ruling “weakens the principles of democracy” in the Kurdistan Region.
Article 49 of the constitution states that representation of all components of the Iraqi people shall be upheld in the parliament.
The Turkmen parties called on the United Nations, President and Prime Minister of Iraq, and President and Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region to “intervene to revert the decision.”
A number of Christian parties on Monday announced they will be boycotting the elections as well in protest of the court ruling.
The June 10 election will be unique in Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary history, with fewer seats in the legislature, a new constituency system, and the poll administered by the federal commission for the first time due to disagreements between the main Kurdish parties that resulted in the failure to reactivate the regional electoral body.
The election is taking place with about a year and a half delay. It was initially scheduled for October 2022, but was repeatedly postponed because of disagreements between the political parties and pending court cases in Baghdad.
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