Kurdistan Democratic Party to boycott local elections
The parliament of Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Rudaw News
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the ruling party in Iraqi Kurdistan, announced on Monday it will boycott the region’s parliamentary elections scheduled for June.
The announcement comes in objection to a decision of Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court regarding the election law.
The presidency of the Kurdistan region of Iraq announced in early March that the elections would be held on June 10 after they were repeatedly postponed due to political differences between the two main parties in the region, and disagreements with Baghdad.
On February 21, the Federal Supreme Court issued a decision setting the number of members of the regional parliament at 100 instead of 111 and handing over the management of the region’s elections to the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to replace another local body.
The KDP, which also holds the presidency of the regional government and has a majority in the current parliament, announced in a statement that it will not take part in an election conducted in violation of the constitution and under the umbrella of an imposed electoral system.
The political party justified its decision by saying that it did not want to legitimize unconstitutional and undemocratic elections, criticizing all the constitutional violations practiced by the Federal Supreme Court against the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The decision to withdraw adds further complexity to elections that were already stalled.
The two major rival parties, the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), dominate political life in the region.
The PUK has not yet determined its stance on the local elections.