Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections set for November 18

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections will be held on November 18, after being delayed by a year, the Region’s presidency announced on Sunday while calling on the legislature and all the institutions to prepare for the vote. 

“Today …. The President of the Kurdistan Region [Nechirvan Barzani] … decided to set November 18, 2023, as the day for holding the elections of the Kurdistan parliament,” Dilshad Shahab, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region Presidency, cited President Barzani as saying during a televised announcement. 

The Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections were supposed to be held last year, but members of the legislature voted in October by a majority to extend the parliament’s four-year term by another year, after disagreements between the blocs over the current electoral law and the electoral commission prevented new elections from being carried out. 

Shahab called on “relevant authorities to be ready to conduct the necessary tasks with support and cooperation from the Independent High Elections Commission for implementing this decision.” 

The inability of the Kurdistan Region to hold elections is largely attributed to contentions and ongoing wrangling between the Region’s ruling parties - the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) - who have often found themselves entangled in a clash of words over the elections law, as the Sulaimani-based PUK has said it would support new polls once the electoral law has been amended. 

Meetings between both parties have resumed recently in a bid to resolve tensions. 

“We call on the representatives of the United Nation to help us with the success of the process just like in previous times,” Shahab added while reading President Barzani’s statement. 

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

Despite working together in the KRG, the two parties have established control over different parts of the Region, often being referred to as the “Yellow Zone” and “Green Zone“. The KDP is dominant in Erbil and Duhok provinces, while the PUK rules Sulaimani and Halabja.