Iraqi court suspends parliamentary elections in Kurdistan

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s highest court on Tuesday temporarily suspended preparations for June 10 parliamentary elections in the autonomous region of Northern Kurdistan, raising tensions between the two main Kurdish parties.

The Supreme Federal Court has suspended proceedings related to the “registration of candidate lists” while it decides another case related to parliamentary elections in Iraqi Kurdistan, a statement on the court’s website said.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani had appealed to the Supreme Court alleging the “unconstitutionality” of the constituency division planned for the vote.

While awaiting a verdict, Barzani called for “a halt and suspension of the Electoral Commission’s proceedings.”

“The proceedings will be suspended from today until the verdict,” an electoral commission source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The suspension comes amid a long-running conflict between the region’s two historic parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

The court issued a ruling in February that reduced the number of seats in the Kurdish parliament from 111 to 100, effectively eliminating a quota reserved for Turkmen, Armenian and Christian minorities.

In response, Barzani’s KDP declared that it would boycott the parliamentary elections and not register candidates.

Since then, the KDP has pushed for a postponement of the June 10 elections, which were originally scheduled for October 2022 but have been postponed several times.

The PUK has spoken out against any delay in the elections.

The verdict was announced on Tuesday as Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani visited Iranian leaders in Tehran after meeting senior politicians in Baghdad.

The KDP is the largest party in the outgoing parliament with 45 seats compared to 21 seats for the PUK.

The Iraqi Kurdistan region has been autonomous since 1991 and presents itself as an oasis of stability that encourages foreign investment in Iraq.

However, activists and opposition figures denounce corruption, suppression of dissident voices and arbitrary arrests in the region.