Bafel Talabani: KDP will not win 50+1 seats, and 11 seats of the communities were similarly abolished

Peregraf

Bafel Jalal Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), has reacted to PDK officials who recently claimed that Masrour Barzani will retain his position as prime minister in the upcoming tenth cabinet.

"The PDK will not secure 50+1 seats and 11 seats allocated to communities that (supported the KDP against other parties have already been annulled). "I wonder how he intends to assume the role of prime minister again." Talabani said.

Bafel Talabani responded to questions from journalists today and affirmed that "Without the approval of the PUK, Masrour Barzani will not even be appointed as the Director General".

In recent days, Hemn Hawrami, a member of the Political Bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), along with other party officials, asserted that the KDP would emerge as the "primary victor" in the forthcoming elections, and that Masrour Barzani would "definitely " reclaim the prime ministership.

"They are ready for the elections while other parties have yet to organize; they cannot evade the electoral process this time, and the elections will proceed as scheduled," PUK leader said.

Kurdistan parliamentary elections scheduled for October 20, 2024. The Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission and political parties welcomed the date and are ready to conduct the process and preparations continue.

The sixth round of Iraqi Kurdistan parliamentary elections should have been held in October 2022, despite internal and external pressure, but due to disagreements between the parties on the electoral law, especially the PUK and PDK on the seats of communities, the process was not held The Iraqi Federal Court ruled the extension "unconstitutional" and dissolved the Kurdistan parliament, leaving the region with a vacuum of legislative power and the government becoming the caretaker.

The Kurdistan Parliament consists of 100 seats and five seats are reserved for the communities. The election will be held in a four constituencies system.

The five seats are divided into three provinces, three seats in Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Duhok for the Christian community, and two seats in Erbil and Sulaimaniyah for the Turkmen community.

The seats in parliament are divided among the provinces as follows; Erbil province has 34 seats, two of which are for communities, Sulaimaniyah province has 38 seats, two of which are for communities, Duhok province has 25 seats, including one seat for communities, and Halabja province has three seats.

The election has been postponed four times so far. Initially, Nechirvan Barzani, the President of Kurdistan Region of Iraq set October 1, 2022 for the elections, but they were not held on that date. Despite three other times that the KRI President announced for the elections (18 November 2023, 25 February 2024 and 10 June 2024), the elections were not held on those three dates.

Following the first elections on 19 May 1992, no elections for the Kurdistan Parliament have been held within the legal deadline during the three decades of the Kurdistan rule by PUK and PDK.