ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Rakan al-Jabouri, former acting governor of Kirkuk, has been disqualified from Iraq’s November parliamentary elections as he faces several corruption-related lawsuits, Iraq’s electoral body said on Sunday.
A decision issued by the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), dated Sunday, cites directives from the Iraqi Council of Representatives in July and August requesting the “exclusion of candidate Rakan Saeed Ali from the nomination lists for the 2025 Iraqi Council of Representatives elections.”
IHEC spokesperson Jumana al-Ghalai confirmed the decision to Rudaw, stating it was approved by a majority vote of the commission’s board members. She added that disqualified candidates have the right to appeal the decision within three days. The IHEC judicial panel must then issue a final ruling within 10 days, which is binding on all parties.
Jabouri’s disqualification stems from violations of Article 7/Third of Elections Law No. 12 of 2018, which requires candidates to be "of good behavior and reputation" and "politically independent.”
The ex-Kirkuk governor was appointed acting governor of Kirkuk in 2017 after Iraqi federal forces regained control of the city from Kurdish authorities. His tenure ended in August 2024.
In April, he was arrested by order of the Rusafa Criminal Court in Baghdad and later released on bail, following several corruption complaints filed against him.
Sources then informed Rudaw that eight complaints have been lodged against the former governor in Kirkuk, and at the request of the complainants, five of those cases have been transferred to courts in Baghdad.
“Among the cases are two involving corruption in project implementation, each involving the disappearance of 500 million dinars (around $380,000). Another file concerns 21 properties registered under the names of his family members on a single street in Kirkuk, raising serious corruption concerns,” the sources said.
Iraq’s legislative elections are scheduled for November 11, with over 7,900 candidates registered to compete for 329 seats in the Council of Representatives.
However, the IHEC announced on Wednesday that 542 candidates had been disqualified from running in the elections.
On that day, IHEC media officer Imad Jamil told Rudaw that 253 candidates were barred from running due to alleged ties to the Ba’ath Party, which was outlawed per the Accountability and Justice Act following the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled longtime Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The Act, enacted in 2008, aims to eliminate the Ba’ath’s lingering influence across Iraq’s political, administrative, and cultural spheres.
According to the final results of Iraq’s 2024 General Population and Housing Census, the country’s total population - including the Kurdistan Region - stands at 46.1 million. Of that number, approximately 27 million citizens aged 18 and above are eligible to vote in the upcoming election.
