UPDATE: Kurdish legislature votes to postpone elections, extend parliament term

2:22 p.m.

The Kurdistan parliament voted on Tuesday to postpone parliamentary and presidential elections by eight months and extend the current term of parliament until elections.

Of 111 MPs, 71 attended today’s session and that 60 voted in favor of delaying the general elections and extending the parliament term.

 

CORRECTION: Rudaw earlier reported that 68 MPs attended the session on Tuesday. 

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10:58 a.m.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A preliminary agreement has been reached between three major Kurdish parties to postpone parliamentary and presidential elections by eight months and extend the current term of parliament until election day, said an official on Tuesday.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), PatriotIc Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) have agreed to extend the parliament term by eight months as well as the election amid an uncertain atmosphere the Kurdistan Region is reeling from in the wake of growing tensions between Erbil and Baghdad after the Iraqi government’s troops and Shiite militias launched an incursion into the disputed or Kurdistani areas on October 16.

Dler Mawati, head of the PUK faction in the Kurdistan parliament also added that as part of Tuesday’s parliament session agenda, Begard Talabani of the PUK will be appointed the secretary of the parliament in place of Fakhradin Qadir, from the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal), who resigned on September 30. 

The parliament will address “the situation of Kirkuk, the coming of the Hashd al-Shaabi, and the appointment the secretary of the parliament,” Omed Khoshnaw, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) faction in the Kurdistan parliament, had earlier told Rudaw.

The agenda will also include elections, Khoshnaw added.

Election preparations were halted two weeks before the Kurdistan Region was to go to the polls. The Electoral Commission “decided to halt all the preparations for the elections of November 1, 2017, because of not having candidates at the specified time and current new developments.” 

The commission said it was waiting for the Kurdistan parliament to make a decision on the matter.

Presidential and parliamentary elections were scheduled to be held simultaneously on November 1.

The Change Movement (Gorran) and Komal who have been seen acting on one aide and at odds with the other three parties, are believed not to attend the session. 

Gorran, the second-largest party in the parliament, earlier this week called on the Kurdistan Regional Government to be dissolved and an interim government be established to prepare for elections and lead talks with Baghdad. Gorran has not attended parliamentary sessions since the legislature was reactivated in September after being shut for two years amid a political row between Gorran and the ruling KDP.

The call was rejected by the KDP and PUK.