“It is difficult to hold elections on September 5 and we cannot hold the elections on that date. That date was set a month ago and the commission determines its work on the basis of the official date of the elections,” Jumana al-Ghalai, spokesperson for the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) which will oversee the vote, told Rudaw.
The commission had previously suggested September 5 as the date for the Kurdistan Region’s parliament elections after repeated delays and several issues prevented the body from carrying out the vote.
It stressed that the Kurdistan Region Presidency’s delay in issuing a decree to announce September 5 as election day has complicated preparations and made it difficult for IHEC to finalize the voting procedures.
“We are still waiting for the decree from the Kurdistan Region Presidency,” Ghalai said. “Every day of delay affects the work of the commission and the Kurdistan parliamentary elections.”
Three new political parties and 47 independent candidates have registered for the polls since numerous changes were made to the voting mechanism last month, Ghalai confirmed.
A Baghdad decision last month allocated five seats for minorities across the Kurdistan Region’s provinces - a crucial demand of the Kurdistan Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to end their boycott of the vote - months after an Iraqi top court stripped the minorities of their quota seats in the legislature.
After the minority seats were removed, the KDP decided to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for June 10 at the time.
According to the Supreme Judicial Council decision, Erbil and Sulaimani provinces - controlled by the KDP and the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) respectively - will each get one seat for the Christian and one for the Turkmen components, while KDP-controlled Duhok will obtain a seat for the Christians.
Earlier this month, the KDP informed IHEC of its willingness to participate in the upcoming elections, clearing a major obstacle for the vote to be held after repeated delays.
The Kurdistan Region elections were initially scheduled for two years ago, but the process has been delayed several times since. The polls were last set for June 10, but the Iraqi electoral body announced that it would not be able to supervise the process on that date, suggesting September 5 instead. A new date for the elections has yet to be announced.
