Iraq’s top court dissolves Kurdish provincial councils

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court on Sunday ruled to dissolve the Kurdistan Region’s provincial councils “due to the end of their electoral cycle,” after declaring an amendment for their extension as “unconstitutional.” 

The court stated that Article No. 2 in Law No. 2 of 2019, which amended the provincial councils for the provinces of the Kurdistan Region, was “unconstitutional,” it said in a statement. 

According to provisions from Article 2 of the Iraqi constitution, the amendments went against the principles of democracy and infringed on basic rights and freedoms. 

Elections for the Kurdistan Region’s provincial councils were last held in April 2014, and members of the council were sworn in on June of the same year to serve for four years, until June 2018. 

Ali Rashid, the head of Erbil’s provincial council, confirmed to Rudaw on Sunday that the top court ruled against a 2019 amendment of the Kurdistan Region’s provinces law which stipulates for the councils to continue their tasks. 

“We do not know how to deal with the decision. Our legal committee will convene later to decide on what to do,” Rashid said, adding that the provincial councils are in a “legal gap” as a result of the court’s ruling. 

The Kurdistan Region’s provincial council elections were supposed to be held on June 23, 2018, but “political disagreements were the reason behind not holding the elections on time,” Rashid said. 

In March, the Supreme Court ruled against the self-extension of the Kurdistan region’s parliament by another year calling it “unconstitutional” and declaring that the term of the legislature has finished.

Members of the Kurdistan Region’s parliament in October of last year voted by a majority to extend the four-year term of the legislature by one year, after disagreements between the blocs over the current elections law prevented new elections from materializing.

In early August, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani set February 25, 2024 as the date for the Region’s parliamentary elections. The vote had been postponed twice due to political tensions. 

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities have come under mounting criticism domestically and on an international level for failing to hold elections on time.