KRI Parliament elections: political groups to contest independently, abandon quota seats
Shafaq News/ On Tuesday, severalpolitical factions within the minorities have decided to run in the upcomingKurdish Parliament elections with independent lists, foregoing the competitionfor the five quota seats, Aydin Maruf Selim, the Minister of State for MinorityAffairs in the Kurdistan Region (KRI), announced.
In a press conference held in Erbil,Maruf emphasized the importance of having minority representatives present atthe Independent High Electoral Commission and its offices in the Region “tooversee the voting process, especially concerning the quota seats.”
Notably, numerous religious andethnic minorities live in Iraqi Kurdistan, mainly Turkmen, Assyrians, Yazidi,and Christians.
The Election Judiciary Committee ofthe Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council has allocated 5 out of 100 seats in theKurdistan Parliament to the minority components, including the Christian andTurkmen communities. This allocation comprises two seats each in Erbil andAl-Sulaymaniyah Governorates and one in Duhok Governorate.
In early May, the Federal SupremeCourt issued a verdict regarding the system for registering candidate lists andapproving them for the KRI Parliament elections, numbered 7 for 2024.
The Kurdish President NechirvanBarzani set October 20, 2024, as the official election date in a Regionaldecree issued in June.
The number of eligible voters in theKurdish elections is approximately 3.7 million.
