BAGHDAD, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) announced Monday its decision to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, citing the "unconstitutional" amendments issued by the Federal Supreme Court regarding the regional parliamentary elections law.
The KDP, the main party in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, decided not to participate in the elections that would be held "in violation of the law and the constitution and under the umbrella of an electoral law imposed (on the region) outside the will of the people of Kurdistan and its constitutional institutions," according to a statement by the KDP politburo.
In February, the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq issued several decisions regarding the regional parliamentary elections law, which included canceling the 11 seats allocated to minorities in the regional parliament and thus reducing parliamentary seats from 111 to 100, in addition to allowing the Independent High Electoral Commission to manage the regional parliamentary elections, instead of the Kurdistan regional electoral commission.
The boycott came with the aim of not giving legitimacy to an "unconstitutional" and "undemocratic" election and confronting all the constitutional violations practiced by the federal court against the Kurdistan region, especially the "illegal" amendments to the region's parliamentary elections law, the statement said.
It accused the federal court of attempting to "return Iraq to a centralized system."
On March 3, Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the region, set June 10, 2024, as the date for holding elections for the upcoming sixth legislative term of the Kurdistan Parliament.
The last regional parliamentary elections were held in 2018, with the KDP taking the lead with 45 seats, followed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan with 21 seats in the regional parliament.
The regional parliamentary elections were supposed to be held in 2022 but failed due to political differences. ■
