Number of Kurdish parties supporting amendment of electoral law continues to rise

The number of Kurdish parties supporting the amendment of the electoral law in the Kurdistan Region continues to rise.

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani issued a decree last month setting the date for the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary election to October 1, 2022. Parliamentary elections are held every four years as stipulated in Article 8 of the Kurdistan Electoral Law.

There are many criticisms against the law as most Kurdish parties believe that it only serves one specific party who is using it for their interest.

The head of the Kurdistan Justice Group (KJG) bloc in the Kurdistan Parliament emphasized on Tuesday, the necessity of amending the election law in the Kurdistan Region.

"The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has no intention of amending the election law," Abdul Sattar Majid, head of the KJG bloc, said during a press conference.

"The KJG supports amending the law and activating the Independent High Electoral Commission, due to several shortcomings in the old law... We are with holding the elections on time, but the KDP positions indicate that the latter has no intention of neither amending the electoral law in the Kurdistan Region nor holding elections," he added.

Abdul-Sattar Majid stressed, that "the parliamentarians of the minorities should be representatives of their components, not representatives of a political party." "The KDP uses them to pass laws that are in their interest."

A minimum quota of 30 percent of the parliamentary seats is reserved for female MPs, while 11 seats are allocated for parties that represent minorities. However, none of the minorities' 11 seats is filled with a representative from Slemani Governorate and its surroundings when there are many different minorities present in these regions. 

For its part, the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) bloc in the Kurdistan Parliament also affirmed the need to amend the electoral law in the Kurdistan Region before holding the elections.

"Amending the election law in the Kurdistan Region has become a necessity... the Kurdistan Region must be distributed into several electoral districts," Sherko Jawdat, head of the KIU bloc, said during a televised statement on Tuesday.

"The Kurdistan Region should not be a single electoral district as that leads to the control of one party over all the regions of the Kurdistan Region which will have negative repercussions," he added.

MP Jawdat explained, that "if the Kurdistan region is distributed into 4 electoral districts, Erbil, Slemani, Duhok, and Halabja will elect their real representatives, the elections will be fairer, and will reflect the opinion of the people of Kurdistan, but the single-electoral district system will lead to depriving some areas of electing their representatives."

He also pointed out that most parliamentary blocs, except for the KDP, support amending the election law. "We believe that there is no need for the KDP to fear multiple electoral districts because it is a more just system."

Member of the Political Bureau of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Stran Abdullah, previously confirmed that the PUK seeks to amend the election law in the Kurdistan Region.

"The PUK will not participate in the parliamentary elections of Kurdistan unless the election law is amended in the Region," Abdullah said during a TV interview.

"The votes of minorities and the election law in the region serve a particular party," he added, stressing that the PUK is working to change the law in a way that serves the people of the Kurdistan Region.

Abdullah indicated, "The PUK will enter the elections for the people to fulfill their aspirations. The election law has been amended several times in Iraq, so why is the election law not changed in the Kurdistan Region? What prevents that?"

"There is no balance in the representation of the governorates in the Kurdistan Parliament as there is a major imbalance in the voter register, in addition to the fact that the Electoral Commission in the Kurdistan Region needs to be changed," he pointed out.

"The elections are not only setting a date but require preparations and other things... you can't talk about changing in the democratic system without providing the requirements for conducting the elections transparently and fairly," he said.

The Kurdistan Region held its fifth elections for the 111 seats of the parliament on September 30, 2018. Over one million people participated in the vote with a turnout of 59 percent.



PUKmedia