Kurdistan Coalition announces election participation with three-party alliance

Shafaq News/ On Thursday, the "Kurdistan Coalition", comprising three Kurdish parties, was officially announced in al-Sulaimaniyah to contest the upcoming Kurdistan Regional Parliament elections scheduled for October.

Balen Abdullah, a member of the political bureau of the Kurdistan Toilers Party, revealed that the coalition includes the Kurdistan Toilers Party, the Kurdistan Communist Party, and the Kurdistan Democratic Socialist Party, along with independent figures and other entities.

Abdullah stated that within a week, the coalition will unveil its program, roles, and responsibilities.

He urged citizens in the Region to participate in the forthcoming elections to ensure their constitutional rights, while also calling on the Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq to operate with complete neutrality and independence in handling the election results.

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani issued a Regional decree on June 26, setting October 20, 2024, as the date for the Kurdistan parliamentary elections.

Elections for Iraq's Kurdistan parliament, originally scheduled for 2022, were most recently set for June 10. However, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which has the parliamentary majority, announced it would boycott the election in protest of a ruling issued by Iraq's federal supreme court. 

This court decided to cancel 11 seats reserved for minority groups, including Turkmen, Assyrians, Christians, and Armenians, reducing the number of Regional Parliament seats to 100.

The February ruling also changed the electoral system, dividing the Kurdistan Region into four constituencies instead of the single-constituency system used in the 2018 elections. 

The federal court ruling also gave authority to the Iraqi IHEC to organize and oversee Regional elections instead of the Kurdish Regional Election Commission.

In late May, the federal court issued a new ruling restoring five seats reserved for minorities, a move that Kurdish officials said helped ease tensions and convinced the KDP to agree to participate in the October elections.

The October vote is expected to elect 100 new lawmakers representing the governorates of Iraqi Kurdistan: Erbil (34 seats, including one for Christians and one for Turkmen), Halabja (three seats), Al-Sulaymaniyah (38 seats, including one for Christians and one for Turkmen), and Duhok (25 seats, including one for Christians).