ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) is set to meet on Sunday to discuss a request made by the Kurdistan Region’s presidency asking the federal body to supervise the Kurdish parliamentary elections later this year.
The Kurdistan Region Presidency announced on Wednesday that it had submitted a formal request to the IHEC in regards to the Kurdish parliamentary elections, suggesting the polls be held on their originally scheduled date of November 18 or simultaneously with Iraqi provincial elections on December 18.
IHEC spokesperson Jumana al-Ghalai told Rudaw that the commission will convene next week to discuss the possibility of holding the elections on either of the two suggested dates.
“The commission chief and staff will discuss this topic with a technical team and determine the possibility of holding the elections on those suggested dates. Therefore the decision lies with the commission chief and staff… I do not have an answer on whether or not the commission will make a decision,” Ghalai told Rudaw on Wednesday.
Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court in late May ruled against the Kurdistan Region’s parliament decision to extend its term by an additional year, declaring that the term of the legislature had ended and that the self-extension was unconstitutional.
A new parliamentary election was set to be held in October 2022, but disagreements between Kurdish political parties over the current 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.
With Kurdish lawmakers having failed to reactivate the regional electoral commission before the self-extension and all decisions from the parliament thereafter declared null by the Supreme Court, the IHEC has been tasked with carrying out the poll.
The Iraqi electoral body is currently preparing for Iraq-wide provincial elections later this year and has repeatedly stated that it would not be able to hold both elections in close proximity.
