ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has not submitted its list of candidates, sticking to its decision to boycott the Kurdistan Region’s upcoming elections due to concerns over the voting system. The electoral commission on Sunday extended the deadline to register candidates for a few more hours.
Jumana al-Ghalai, spokesperson for the Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), which is running the election, told Rudaw on Sunday that they “will continue to receive the lists of candidates from alliances, political parties and independents until 12:00 am.”
The deadline had been this afternoon and Ghalai said it will not be extended again.
Kurdistan Region will hold parliamentary elections on June 10, two years late. It was postponed several times because of disputes between political parties and legal causes.
Most political parties have submitted their candidate lists. Among the few that have not is the Kurdistan Region’s oldest political entity, the KDP, which earlier this month made the surprise announcement that it was boycotting the vote in protest over a federal court ruling that eliminated minority seats and imposed a four-constituency system.
The party’s politburo said that the court ruling was a continuation of its “unconstitutional rulings against the Kurdistan Region in the past four years” and called it an attempt to “return Iraq to a centralized system.”
The KDP is the largest Kurdish party and the dominant force in both Erbil and Duhok provinces. Its withdrawal from the election has led many pundits to speculate that the vote may not be held as scheduled in June.
International allies and observers have warned against postponing the elections. On Saturday, United States Ambassador Alina Romanowski met with KDP leaders Masoud Barzani and top KRG officials to discuss the vote.
Romanowski said in a post on X on Sunday that she and the KDP and KRG officials discussed how "important" the Kurdistan Region elections are "for the interests of IKR [Iraqi Kurdistan Region], the Kurdish people, & Federal Iraq. I encouraged KDP to work with all Kurdish parties & Baghdad to ensure credible, transparent elections take place soon."
Updated at 8:54pm
