Sources from the Iraqi Independent High electoral Commission (IHEC) told Rudaw, on the condition of anonymity, that the electoral body has instructed its Erbil, Sulaimani, and Duhok branches to suspend all preparations to hold the long-awaited vote.
Six employees of the commission who were in the UAE to print ballots were also instructed on Tuesday "to immediately return to Iraq and not proceed with printing the ballots."
According to the sources, the electoral commission did not inform its branches of a new date for the election.
The Kurdistan Region is set to hold parliamentary elections on June 10, with a nearly two-year delay, after multiple postponements caused by disputes between political parties and pending legal cases related to the electoral process.
Although the majority of the Kurdistan Region’s political parties, including the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) power-sharer in government, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), announced their participation in the vote, the KDP remains set in its choice to boycott the election, despite numerous calls to reverse this decision. The party claims a recent ruling by the Iraqi federal court on the minority quota seats and the division of the Region into four constituencies is “unconstitutional.”
KDP Leader Masoud Barzani last week reiterated his party’s position that it will not take part in the elections unless the minority quota seats are restored.
“We will not take part in the elections without the participation of the minorities because depriving the minorities [of quota seats] is a threat to the historical values of our nation,” Barzani then told a Christian delegation headed by Patriarch Mar Awa Royel of the Assyrian Church of the East, according to a statement from his office.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani paid a three-day visit to Baghdad on Saturday, holding meetings with the federal authorities, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani.
Dilshad Shahab, Kurdistan Region Presidency spokesperson, said on Monday that the fate of the Region’s elections were among key topics discussed in Baghdad.
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