Kurdistan Region Presidency discusses election date with political parties

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region’s Presidency discussed setting a new date for the Region’s parliamentary elections with political parties, party representatives told Rudaw on Wednesday.

Bestoon Hama Salih, head of the elections and statistics institution of the Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal), an Erbil-based political party, told Rudaw’s Hastyar Qadir that they were contacted by Kurdistan Region’s presidency regarding the date of the parliamentary elections.

“We did not suggest a specific date for elections, but the selected date must have the consensus of all the parties,” Salih said, adding that they were informed by the Region’s Presidency that the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) cannot hold the polls until after May 20.

The poll was initially scheduled for October 2022 but was pushed to November of the following year due to disagreements among the political parties over the election law.

After an Iraqi court ruling against the self-extension of the Kurdistan parliament as a result of the delayed elections, the poll was postponed to February 25, 2024, this time under the supervision of the Iraqi electoral commission.

Imad Jamil, the head of the federal electoral commission’s media team, said earlier this month that “we [the commission] have sent a letter to the Kurdistan Region Presidency to inform them that we cannot hold Kurdistan parliamentary elections on February 25.”

The Presidency has repeatedly emphasized its efforts to hold the polls on time.

Yasin Hama Ali, the head of the elections chamber of Gorran confirmed to Rudaw that the party leaders have discussed the vote with the Kurdistan Region’s Presidency.

May 19 and May 30 were the two hypothetical dates for the vote that were discussed by the Kurdistan Region’s Presidency and the Region’s political parties according to Hama Ali.

“Gorran believes that the elections should be held as soon as possible, to put an end to the existing legal gap that occurred due to failure to hold elections,” he said.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities have come under mounting criticism domestically and on an international level for failing to hold elections on time.

In an interview with Rudaw’s Shaho Amin on Thursday, UK’s Ambassador to Iraq Stephen Hitchen said that holding the vote was necessary to ensure the legitimacy of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

“We want to see those elections to go forward as soon as possible,” Hitchen said.