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Al-Hurra Iraq interview 25/05/23

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If you can, please listen to my English response, as the Arabic translation understandably misses a few parts from my fast-pace...

I spoke with Mohammed al-Haidari on Al-Hurra Iraq earlier this evening about the (potentially) upcoming Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections, why we saw such chaotic scenes in the region’s parliament on Monday, and what this all means about the state of democracy here and the regard given to the electorate.

The Head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert put out a blunt statement yesterday, describing the ongoing political infighting in the KRI as “very disturbing” and once again calling on all parties to work in the interest of the region’s people to find common ground on outstanding electoral issues, adding that timely + credible elections are essential for democracy. (And the many young people who say they see little point in voting whenever the next election is held have a strong case to make).

This all comes in the wake of earlier diplomatic statements — and a co-ordinated joint statement by multiple consulates in Erbil, including the British, German, and US, earlier this month — pushing for preparations to begin for the KRI’s elections, last held in 2018 and well overdue. Last year’s election deadline was extended by a year by the parliament itself, although in other developments Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court yesterday postponed its ruling on whether the extension of the Kurdistan Region Parliament’s term is constitutional (new date next week, May 30th), in a case filed by the New Generation Party. In order to meet this year’s November 18th date, the region’s electoral commission should have begun work *last week* on May 18th, as they require at least six months to prepare. So things were already not looking good

But why does this matter? Because just as we all thought KDP-PUK relations were turning a new page (note - in the Kurdistan Region’s parliament, the KDP have 45 seats, and the next largest party, the PUK, have 21, they are divided among the region, with PUK ministers boycotting the KRG’s cabinet meetings for six months until earlier this month), all hell broke loose in the Kurdistan Region parliament on Monday. With less than 24 hours notice, the deputy speaker (and senior KDP member) put forward a motion for the parliament to vote on renewing the mandate of the electoral commission, essentially reinstating the Kurdistan Electoral Commission and charging forth with the election, which the speaker of parliament (herself a senior PUK member) blocked on a matter of technicality, postponing the session.

Cue a wave of competing narratives, with the parliament’s official gazette saying the vote had passed with 58 votes, and the PUK’s political bureau issuing a statement saying the KDP had violated the rules by adding the vote on the electoral commission to the parliament session agenda. The head of the electoral commission (a KDP member) says the commission has been formally informed of their reactivation, but it hardly seems a good point to begin planning the region’s democratic elections from. Federal Iraq will also see elections later this year — as Iraq’s provincial councils are set to be reactivated for the first time since 2013, and preparations are underway: with PM Sudani this week visiting Iraq’s High Electoral Commission HQ.

I go into it in more detail in the interview, but a major issue seems to be the issue of the allocation of minority seats in the parliament (11/111) which critics say are exploited by the KDP, and the PUK would like to see a different distribution of the seats over the provinces, e.g. by giving 4 to their stronghold province of Sulaimani. It’s both a matter of technicality and also a fundamental issue of what sort of democracy the Kurdistan Region is.