President Barzani to discuss elections with Kurdish political parties

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani is expected to meet with the heads of Kurdish political parties later this week to discuss the Region’s upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for October, a senior official from the presidency told Rudaw on Monday. 

The meeting will take place on Wednesday, and will also be attended by The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Fawzi Hariri, the Kurdistan Region Presidency chief of staff, told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman on Monday.

The Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections are set to occur on October 1, but the process has been hindered by disagreements between the Kurdish political parties over the Region’s current commission and election laws, casting doubt on the likelihood of the vote to be held on time.

Hennis-Plasschaert called for equalizing the Kurdistan Region's electoral playing field ahead of elections scheduled for October 1 during a UN Security Council meeting in May, focusing on solutions that represent the interests of all residents of the Region.

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Bafel Talabani held a meeting in Erbil on Thursday, discussing the latest developments in Iraq’s political climate, and hoping to unite Kurdish political forces against the challenges they face in Iraq and the Region.

The PUK and a number of other Kurdish political blocs have claimed that the electoral regulations are outdated and in need of amendment prior to October’s vote, a suggestion opposed by KDP, arguing that amending the laws requires the agreement of all parliamentary blocs.

“Even if all the parties reach an agreement today, we don’t believe the electoral commission will be able to organize it [the election] on October 10,” Hemin Hawrami, deputy speaker of the Kurdistan Region parliament, said in July.