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Kurdistan
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani (middle) hosted UNAMI and IHEC delegations in Erbil on June 15, 2023. Photo: handout
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Thursday hosted United Nations Special Representative for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and Iraq’s electoral body, discussing the fate of the Region’s delayed parliamentary election.
Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary poll is scheduled for November 18. The vote was set to be held last year but it was postponed due to tensions between political parties. The fate of the election remains unclear despite efforts by President Barzani to avoid further delay.
President Barzani on Thursday held a meeting in Erbil with UNAMI chief, a number of its expert’s and officials from the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
“President Barzani stressed the need to hold the Kurdistan Region’s elections as soon as possible. In this regard, he expressed the readiness of the Region’s presidency, government and all relevant authorities to make the process successful,” read a statement from the Kurdistan Region Presidency.
The UNAMI head and experts said they support the Kurdish president’s efforts to hold the poll on time, and the IHEC delegation expressed their readiness to hold the vote “as per law and after the provision of needs as well as an agreement on a suitable time,” added the statement.
The Iraqi electoral body also decided to maintain their coordination with the Kurdistan Region Presidency to set a date for the vote.
The meeting comes days after a delegation from the Kurdistan Region Presidency visited Baghdad, discussing the Region’s upcoming parliamentary election with the IHEC and other relevant authorities.
SRSG @JeanineHennis and UNAMI Elections Team attended a meeting today in Erbil hosted by @IKRPresident Nechirvan Barzani w/ the Chairman and Board of Commissioners of the @IHECOfficial. SRSG expressed UNAMI's support to provide technical assistance in facilitating the elections. pic.twitter.com/Fp9zLuLsjF
— UNAMI (@UNIraq) June 15, 2023
“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,” Dilshad Shahab, Kurdistan Region Presidency spokesperson, said last week.
Last year, the age of the Kurdistan Parliament was extended for one year by the legislature itself - a move recently ruled “unconstitutional” by the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court.
The federal 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.
During her latest briefing to the UN Security Council on May 18, Hennis-Plasschaert warned that further postponement in the Kurdistan Region’s general elections could be “detrimental to public trust."
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