Decree to reactivate Kurdish electoral body published on official gazette

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region’s official gazette on Tuesday published a controversial decree recently issued by the parliament to reactivate the Region’s electoral commission as the election date nears. 

Kurdistan parliament on Monday convened to discuss several issues, including the reactivation of the Independent High Electoral and Referendum Commission. However, a brawl erupted between the parliamentarians of both ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) after the Speaker Rewaz Fayaq decided to postpone the session but her deputy Hemin Hawrami decided to continue the meeting. Fayaq and Hawrami are senior members of PUK and KDP respectively. 

The KDP claims that 58 out of 111 parliamentarians voted to reactivate the commission but its rival party argues that the body was not activated because the session had been postponed when the voting took place.  

A decree, signed by Hawrami and published by the Region’s official gazette on Tuesday, reads that the commission has been reactivated.   

Abbas Fatah, a PUK lawmaker, was cited by his party’s media as saying that the publication of the decree by the gazette “has no legal value.”  

The office of the parliament published a statement following the kerfuffle on Monday saying that the electoral commission had been reactivated, contradicting a statement from Parliamentary Speaker Fayaq an hour earlier.

“No outcome will have legal or procedural value after the adjournment,” said Fayaq, adding that she had not granted anyone the authority to sign the parliament documents - a power solely reserved for the speaker according to the bylaws.

Hawrami responded with a statement of his own saying that due to the fact that the legal quorum was met and the session had already started, the speaker has no authority to make an “illegal” assessment of her powers and adjourn the meeting.

The commission, whose first mandate ended in 2019, consists of nine members, including two who were recently approved by the parliament but have not been sworn in.  

Handren Mohammed, the head of the commission, told Rudaw on Tuesday that they have been officially informed of their reactivation, adding that they could immediately start preparations for the elections. 

The Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 18, a year late. The vote was postponed due to disagreements between key political parties over the electoral law and the electoral commission.