ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s electoral commission on Thursday announced that it had reopened the door for the political parties to register themselves for the Kurdistan Region’s upcoming legislative elections. The decision allows boycotting parties to participate in the long overdue process.
Jumana al-Ghalai, spokesperson of Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told Rudaw on Thursday that the political parties, coalitions, independent candidates and minority candidates can register themselves for the Region’s upcoming elections between Saturday and Thursday.
The elections, initially scheduled for two years ago, were last set for June 10 but the electoral body has stated that it cannot supervise the process on this date, officially requesting a new date. The commission has suggested September 5 but the Kurdish authorities have yet to finalize the date.
The Region’s strongest political party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), had boycotted the process citing concerns over the election mechanism. However, a senior KDP official said on Sunday that it will take part in the polls if the recent changes to the mechanism of the vote are implemented.
The changes include the Baghdad decision to allocate five seats for minorities across the Kurdistan Region’s three provinces, months after an Iraqi top court stripped the minorities of their quota seats in the legislature.
Most Christian and Turkmen parties had also joined the KDP in boycotting the elections at the time, demanding the restoration of the quota seats.
The IHEC’s reopening of the registration process paves the way for the KDP and other parties which have boycotted the process to register themselves for the elections.
