The Kurdistan Region will hold both parliamentary and presidential elections on the same day.
The Independent High Elections and Referendum Commission (IHERC) warned that election campaigning cannot begin until the candidate lists are also approved by its office.
The 21 political entities that have been approved by the IHERC are:
1. Coalition for Democracy and Justice list
2. Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)3. Turkmen Development Party
4. Turkmen Democratic Movement in Kurdistan
5. Change Movement (Gorran)
6. Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU)
7. Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party
8. Individual Armenian Political Entity (Aram Birzo Hamo)
9. Individual Armenian Political Entity (Obar Sipan Gharib)
10. Turkmen Reform Party11. Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal)
12. Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
13. Yezidi Democratic Party
14. Kurdistan Toilers Party
15. Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party
16. Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council
17. Kurdistan Communist Party
18. New Generation List
19. Kurdistan Conservative Party
20. Assyrian Patriotic Party
21. Kurdistan Workers and Toilers Party
The Kurdistan Region last held parliamentary elections in 2013. The presidential election has not been held since 2009.
After the 2013 vote, the KDP with 38 seats, Gorran with 24 seats, PUK with 18 seats, KIU with 10 seats, and Komal with 6 seats formed a coalition government, led by the KDP.
Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani has already said that he will not run for the presidency. He also ruled out any of his family members making a bid for the top post.
