ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi government on Tuesday allocated nearly 70 billion dinars ($45 million) for the federal electoral commission to supervise the Kurdistan Region’s upcoming parliamentary elections early next year. Iraq’s Council of Ministers held its weekly meeting on Tuesday, approving the allocation of 43.7 billion dinars from the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission’s (IHEC) budget and 25.5 billion dinars from the emergency reserve within the Kurdistan Region’s federal budget for the Region’s February 25 parliamentary elections, according to a statement from Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s office. The poll was initially scheduled for October 2022, but was pushed to November of the same year due to disagreements between the political parties over the election law. After an Iraqi court ruling against the self-extension of the Kurdistan parliament because of the delayed election, the poll was postponed to February 2024, this time under the supervision of the Iraqi electoral commission. Al-Hassan Qabas, a member of the IHEC’s media team, told Rudaw on Thursday that they had already begun preparations for the Kurdish region’s election, adding that unexpected development will not affect their plan for the vote. “We as the commission began our preparations for the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary election nearly two months ago,” Qabas said, adding that the first phase was dedicated to register voters, update the voter list, and finalize instructions related to political parties' representatives, local and international observers and media outlets. Darbaz Kosrat Rasul, a politburo member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), told journalists last week that the elections will be held before June. Dawood Salman, IHEC head of procedures, told Rudaw earlier this month that the allocation of the 70 billion dinars is very essential to their work, adding that any delay could create problems for the electoral commission’s agenda and schedule.
