IHEC Disqualifies Sherwan Sherwani and Shivan Saeed from Kurdistan Elections

08-09-2024 05:04

Peregraf

The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) of Iraq has disqualified the candidacies of imprisoned journalist Sherwan Sherwani and activist Shivan Saeed from participating in the upcoming parliamentary elections in the Kurdistan Region.

Sherwani, a candidate for the National Stance Movement in Erbil, and Saeed, representing the New Generation Movement in Dohuk, were preparing to run in the sixth parliamentary election round. However, the Commission's decision, based on Article 21 of the Elections Law, determined that neither candidate met the necessary eligibility requirements.

Security reports played a role in the disqualification, and both political lists have been given three days to nominate replacement candidates.

The National Stance Movement is a recently established political party in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is led by Ali Hama Salih, a former MP of the Gorran Movement.

In addition, Jaafar Othman, the Gorran (Change) Movement’s candidate in Sulaymaniyah, also saw his candidacy rejected for similar reasons, with a request to find a replacement within the same period.

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.