ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A member-elect of the Kurdistan Region parliament, affiliated with one of the Region’s two main Islamic parties, told Rudaw on Monday that he has filed a lawsuit with Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court against the Kurdish legislature. The lawsuit challenges the parliament’s failure to convene regularly, nearly seven months after the elections that brought it to power, and calls for the annulment of the election results. Omar Gulpi, a member of the Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal), won a seat in the October elections but has not yet been sworn in. He told Rudaw, "I have filed a legal complaint against the Kurdistan parliament” over its failure to convene regularly. “We [as Komal] deem this [failure to convene] as an oppression of the people of Kurdistan, the will of the people of Kurdistan, and the materialization of a parliament that cannot express the will of the people of Kurdistan,” Gulpi said. The Kurdish parliament’s failure to convene is linked to the ongoing impasse in forming the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) new cabinet. The Kurdistan Region held delayed parliamentary elections in October after a two-year delay. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) emerged as the leading party, securing 39 seats in the 100-member legislature, followed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with 23 seats. As no party achieved a majority, a governing coalition is required, as has been customary. However, nearly seven months since the key vote, political parties have yet to reach an agreement on forming a new cabinet. Representatives of the KDP and the PUK held their latest meeting in Sulaimani in late April. However, no final agreement was reached, particularly regarding the allocation of key government posts. Amid the impasse, lawmakers in the Kurdish parliament are seemingly awaiting the outcome of the government formation talks, and have convened only once since the October elections. The session, held in December, failed to produce any significant decisions, as lawmakers did not elect a speaker and their two deputies. No further sessions have been held since. The December session was also adjourned until further notice. Gulpi argues that “leaving the parliament session [open-ended] has no legal or constitutional basis,” stressing that existing laws do not allow for such adjournments or indefinite suspensions of a parliamentary session. Soran Barznji, a legal advisor to the Kurdistan Parliament, told Rudaw on Monday that the legislature can be dissolved under electoral law if it “fails to convene within 30 days” after being called to session by the Kurdistan Region president. He added that the president has the authority to extend the deadline to 45 days in certain cases, but said that “none” of those conditions have been met, among others. He added that if any of the legal conditions are met, “[the parliament] will be dissolved automatically based on the rule of law,” emphasizing that “there are no other cases that can dissolve the parliament, and no other authority that can dissolve the Kurdistan parliament.” On the other hand, the member-elect also criticized “all the opposition and dissatisfied parties,” stating that “they should have exerted more effort” to convene the Kurdish parliament. The parties in reference are the Shaswar Abdul-Wahid-led New Generation Movement (NGM), which ranked third in the October elections, securing 15 seats in parliament, the Ali Hama Saleh-led National Stance Movement (Halwest) with four seats, the Lahur Talabany-led People’s Front with two seats, and the Change Movement (Gorran), which holds a single seat. Komal secured three seats, while the Region’s other top Islamic party, the Kurdistan Islamic Union, snatched seven. Amid the stalemate, Gupli on Monday outlined the three key demands behind his complaint as follows: “First, to annul the results of the sixth round of the Kurdistan parliament elections; second, to task Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) with re-running the Kurdistan parliament elections; and third, to recover all material privileges that the [Kurdish parliament’s] legislators have received in the past five months, since their election.” Of note, Komal was among the Kurdish parties that rejected the results of the October elections, alleging the vote was rigged. It later announced that its lawmakers would not participate in the parliament in protest of the alleged fraud. Sangar Abdulrahman contributed to this article.
