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Kurdistan
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani meeting with Court of Cassassion head and members in Erbil on February 13, 2024. Photo: Kurdistan Region Presidency.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Tuesday met with the president and members of the Region’s Court of Cassation, discussing legal issues facing the upcoming parliamentary election as a federal court has yet to rule about how the polls should be held.
President Barzani on Tuesday received the head and members of Kurdistan Region’s Court of Cassation as well as the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) justice minister in Erbil. They touched on two complaints filed to Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of some articles of the Region’s election law.
They also discussed “the constitutional and legal dimensions as well as possibilities and consequences” of a pending ruling by the federal court, according to a statement from the Kurdistan Region Presidency. The ruling has been delayed ten times.
Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary polls were initially scheduled for October 2022 but were pushed to November of the following year due to disagreements among the political parties over the election law. After an Iraqi court ruling against the self-extension of the Kurdistan parliament as a result of the delayed elections, the vote was postponed to February 25 this year, this time under the supervision of the Iraqi electoral commission.
Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has announced that the vote cannot be held this month as well, with one of its officials expecting the new date to be set for late May.
The commission has announced that the pending ruling by the federal court pertaining to the Region’s election law could change their plans.
Two politicians from the Kurdistan Patriotic Union (PUK) and a Christian party in Sulaimani have filed two lawsuits against the Kurdistan Region’s election law, which was passed in 1992 and last amended in 2013, separately, to the Iraqi federal court. The court is treating both as one case due to their similarity.
The lawsuits claim that several articles of the Kurdish election law are unconstitutional. These include Article 36 which stipulates that 11 of the legislature’s 111 seats are dedicated to minorities under a quota system. Turkmens have five seats, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs have five, and Armenians have one.
Some political parties, especially the PUK, have claimed that these seats are exploited by the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which is accused of directing security forces to vote for the minority candidates it favors. The KDP has denied the claims.
The Iraqi federal court on Sunday, for the tenth time, decided to adjourn a ruling on the case, this time to February 18.
Rewaz Fayaq, former speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament, which has been dissolved now, said in April last year that Kurdistan Region’s political parties had resolved all their disputes related to delayed elections, except for the seats dedicated to minorities in the legislature.
Aydin Maaruf, a Turkmen politician, told Rudaw on Tuesday that the quota seats of minorities have been used as an excuse to postpone the vote.
“The quota seats have been set in law and there is no need to politicize the issue,” he said.
During Tuesday’s meeting with top judges, President Barzani emphasized that his office and relevant authorities “will take all constitutional and legal measures to ensure the Kurdistan parliamentary elections are held,” stated the Kurdistan Region Presidency.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned against any further delays of the vote.
"Kurdistan Region: continued postponements of elections do not help already low trust levels, nor do they contribute to Iraq’s stability," United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said at a UN Security Council session discussing Iraq in New York on February 6.
“To state the obvious: we expect all parties to ensure that this new election date will not again fall victim to internal political strife. With the current administration in a caretaker capacity, the Region’s democratic process must prevail. There is so much at stake,” she told members of the Council in October last year.
Kurdistan Region’s authorities have come under mounting criticism both domestically and internationally, for failing to hold elections on time.
President Barzani on Tuesday received the head and members of Kurdistan Region’s Court of Cassation as well as the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) justice minister in Erbil. They touched on two complaints filed to Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of some articles of the Region’s election law.
They also discussed “the constitutional and legal dimensions as well as possibilities and consequences” of a pending ruling by the federal court, according to a statement from the Kurdistan Region Presidency. The ruling has been delayed ten times.
Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary polls were initially scheduled for October 2022 but were pushed to November of the following year due to disagreements among the political parties over the election law. After an Iraqi court ruling against the self-extension of the Kurdistan parliament as a result of the delayed elections, the vote was postponed to February 25 this year, this time under the supervision of the Iraqi electoral commission.
Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has announced that the vote cannot be held this month as well, with one of its officials expecting the new date to be set for late May.
The commission has announced that the pending ruling by the federal court pertaining to the Region’s election law could change their plans.
Two politicians from the Kurdistan Patriotic Union (PUK) and a Christian party in Sulaimani have filed two lawsuits against the Kurdistan Region’s election law, which was passed in 1992 and last amended in 2013, separately, to the Iraqi federal court. The court is treating both as one case due to their similarity.
The lawsuits claim that several articles of the Kurdish election law are unconstitutional. These include Article 36 which stipulates that 11 of the legislature’s 111 seats are dedicated to minorities under a quota system. Turkmens have five seats, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs have five, and Armenians have one.
Some political parties, especially the PUK, have claimed that these seats are exploited by the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which is accused of directing security forces to vote for the minority candidates it favors. The KDP has denied the claims.
The Iraqi federal court on Sunday, for the tenth time, decided to adjourn a ruling on the case, this time to February 18.
Rewaz Fayaq, former speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament, which has been dissolved now, said in April last year that Kurdistan Region’s political parties had resolved all their disputes related to delayed elections, except for the seats dedicated to minorities in the legislature.
Aydin Maaruf, a Turkmen politician, told Rudaw on Tuesday that the quota seats of minorities have been used as an excuse to postpone the vote.
“The quota seats have been set in law and there is no need to politicize the issue,” he said.
During Tuesday’s meeting with top judges, President Barzani emphasized that his office and relevant authorities “will take all constitutional and legal measures to ensure the Kurdistan parliamentary elections are held,” stated the Kurdistan Region Presidency.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned against any further delays of the vote.
"Kurdistan Region: continued postponements of elections do not help already low trust levels, nor do they contribute to Iraq’s stability," United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said at a UN Security Council session discussing Iraq in New York on February 6.
“To state the obvious: we expect all parties to ensure that this new election date will not again fall victim to internal political strife. With the current administration in a caretaker capacity, the Region’s democratic process must prevail. There is so much at stake,” she told members of the Council in October last year.
Kurdistan Region’s authorities have come under mounting criticism both domestically and internationally, for failing to hold elections on time.
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