PUK: Amending electoral law removes injustice

P.U.K 12:53 PM - 2023-05-09

Rizgar Haji Hama, head of PUK Election Agency.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) emphasizes the need to amend the voting law before holding Kurdistan Parliamentary elections so that they are fair and transparent.

Razgar Haji Hama, head of the PUK Election Agency, said at a press conference: "What the PUK wants for the elections is to protect the rights of voters, which is also what many other parties want because if the elections take place according to the old law, there will be a lot of unfairness."

Voter registration list

According to the head of the PUK Elections Agency: The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi federal government's voter registration lists differ significantly.

When comparing the voter registration lists of the federal government and the KRG, Sulaymaniyah is unfairly underrepresented in the KRG's list, according to Hama, as its voters are less by 128,000, while Erbil's are more by 198,000, and Duhok's are more by 216,000.

"The PUK wants to adopt the Iraqi voter registration because it is more accurate and fair," he said.

Minorities’ seat

Regarding the seats set aside for minorities, Hama said: "Comparing the minorities' seats in the Iraqi and Kurdistan parliaments reveals that the number of minorities' seats in the Kurdistan Region is significantly higher than in Iraq, where in Iraq, only two seats are for the Kurdistan Region's minorities compared to 11 seats in the Kurdistan parliament."

"There is injustice in the distribution of the minorities' seats in the Kurdistan parliament... the PUK demands that the minorities' seats be divided throughout the provinces so that the minorities can pick their true representatives, " he said.

Parliamentary Seats

Regarding the number of provincial seats, the head of the PUK Election Agency stated: "Sulaymaniyah is once again subjected to injustice here, as 37 seats have been allocated for the province, whereas the population census indicates that it should have 45 seats. By contrast, Erbil and Duhok have a higher proportion of seats in the Kurdistan Parliament relative to their population size. Erbil has 44 seats, which should have been 39, while Duhok has 30 seats despite deserving only 27."

"Consequently, Sulaymaniyah has eight fewer seats in proportion to its population, while Erbil has five more and Duhok has three more," he said.

He continued: "The PUK supports holding elections and having them on time, but elections cannot be held with an unfair record that includes 300,000 more voters than the actual number of voters."

Multiple constituencies are better

"We support holding elections with multiple constituencies because the single-constituency system has numerous flaws and is unjust." The number of governorate seats in the single constituency fails to distribute them fairly because it does not allot seats to governorates based on population percentage," Hama remarked. "However, in a multi-constituency system, the candidates are the true representatives of their districts."

Hama indicated that the Sulaymaniyah governorate was subject to great injustice under the old law, as it received thirty-seven seats in the Kurdistan Parliament. However, under the multiple constituency system, the Sulaymaniyah governorate gets 45 seats in the Kurdistan Parliament, highlighting the 8-seat difference.

He added: "According to the old law, Erbil received five more seats than it was entitled to, Sulaymaniyah received eight fewer seats than it deserved, and Duhok received three more seats than it was entitled to."



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