ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Despite losing their minority quota seats in the Kurdistan Region parliament, Turkmens will compete in the upcoming election, a Turkmen leader said on Saturday.
“As the Iraqi Turkmen Front, we will be participating in the election under a quota system, and even if the election is held without the quota system on June 10, we will participate,” Aydin Maruf, politburo member of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, told journalists during a press conference on Saturday.
“The important thing is our presence in the vote,” he added.
The Baghdad-based Federal Supreme Court last month ruled that the 11 quota seats in the Kurdistan Region’s parliament reserved for ethnic and religious minorities were unconstitutional, effectively eliminating the seats.
The ruling was slammed by the Region’s minority parties as it makes it almost impossible for them to have representatives in the parliament and raised questions about whether the minorities will even participate in the vote.
Under the quota system, Turkmen parties had a guaranteed five seats in the legislature, but following the ruling, they must compete for votes to win a general seat.
“We support participating in the elections under one Turkmen list,” Maruf called on Turkmen political parties to be a part of a unified list to increase their chances of having representatives in the parliament.
The election will be held on June 10, a year and a half late. The delay was caused by disagreements among the parties over the election law and federal court rulings. The vote will be held under the supervision of the federal electoral commission.
Kurdistan Region authorities have come under mounting criticism both domestically and internationally for failing to hold elections on time.
