ERBIL, Kurdistan Region -Kurdistan Patriotic Union (PUK) on Thursday reiterated their position that they want the Kurdistan Region's parliamentary elections to be held on time.
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.
Saadi Pira, spokesperson for the PUK, told reporters on Thursday that his party's leadership convened and decided that the elections should be held on time.
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the largest Kurdish party and the dominant force in both Erbil and Duhok provinces, has decided to boycott the polls, claiming that the Iraqi federal court’s recent ruling on the minority seats and the division of the Region into four constituencies are “unconstitutional.”
Shakhawan Abdullah, second deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, told reporters on Tuesday that the elections cannot take place without the participation of the KDP.
Abdullah, who is also a member of the KDP central committee, said his party and the country’s electoral commission are holding talks “to take the concerns seriously.”
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Tuesday received the ambassadors of the European Union and France in Iraq, discussing the significance of holding Kurdistan Region’s long-overdue parliamentary elections.
