Iraq
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani chairs cabinet meeting on March 9, 2025. Photo: PMO
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iraqi Council of Ministers on Wednesday set November 11 of this year as the date for Iraq’s upcoming legislative elections, a day after the ruling Shiite-led Coordination Framework rejected delaying them and urged the government to begin laying the groundwork for the key ballot.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s office said in a statement on Wednesday that “the cabinet voted to set November 11, 2025, as the date for holding the legislative elections.”
The decision came a day after the ruling Shiite-led Coordination Framework, in a statement it issued on Tuesday, underscored the “need to hold the legislative elections on their scheduled date at the end of this year,” stressing that “no party has the right to delay the elections or cancel the timelines set for the electoral process.”
The Coordination Framework further urged the Sudani government to “prepare the necessary electoral atmosphere, provide the security requirements for the elections” and “give the Independent High Electoral Commission [IHEC] the support it needs to ensure the success of the [electoral] process and guarantee their integrity.”
Of note, the IHEC is an independent body responsible for overseeing and organizing elections in Iraq and ensuring their fairness, integrity and transparency by managing voter registration, election monitoring, and announcing final results.
The Coordination Framework’s remarks came amid reports from local Iraqi media that the Shiite-led bloc’s rival National Shiite Movement – led by Iraqi Shiite cleric and politician Muqtada al-Sadr - was pushing for postponing the key vote and forming an emergency government.
Of note, Sadr announced in late March that the movement he leads, formerly known as the Sadrist Movement, will sit out the 2025 legislative elections in protest of "corruption."
Senior Coordination Framework figure and head of the Iraqi State of Law coalition, Nouri al-Maliki, on Monday warned that “any postponement of cancellation of the [legislative elections]” would lead to a “collapse” of the Iraqi parliament and put Iraq on a path toward “division and strife.”
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