Kurdistan
UNAMI Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert breafing UN Security Council on October 10, 2023. Photo: UNAMI
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - UNAMI Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert on Tuesday renewed her warning that any further postponement in the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary election will have negative consequences. “There is so much at stake,” she said.
A new parliamentary vote was set to be held in October 2022, but disagreements between the Kurdish political parties, especially the ruling ones, over the existing elections law and the electoral commission prevented the process from being conducted on its scheduled time and pushed the legislature to extend its four-year term for an additional year.
In early August, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani set February 25 as the date for the parliamentary elections, after a previous November 18 date was rejected when the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court in May deemed the self-extension of the Kurdistan parliament “unconstitutional” and dissolved it.
“To state the obvious: we expect all parties to ensure that this new election date will not again fall victim to internal political strife. With the current administration in a caretaker capacity, the Region’s democratic process must prevail. There is so much at stake,” UNAMI head said when briefing the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
She added that the Kurdish election is “ long overdue.”
When briefing the same council in May, Hennis-Plasschaert warned that any further delay in the Kurdistan Region’s general vote could be “detrimental to public trust."
The Kurdistan Parliament consists of 111 seats, with 11 of them dedicated to minorities under a quota system. Turkmens have five seats, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs have five, and Armenians one.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani received the UNAMI chief late last month, discussing the election.
“Perspectives were also shared regarding the situation in the Kurdistan Region, underscoring the need to conduct the parliamentary elections as scheduled on February 25, 2024,” read a statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) at the time.
Kurdistan Region’s authorities have come under mounting criticism both domestically and internationally, for failing to hold elections on time.
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