“The absence of democracy is not possible.” The federal government remains silent on the postponemen

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[size=52]“The absence of democracy is not possible.” The federal government remains silent on the postponement of the regional elections[/size]

[size=45]Suzanne Taher[/size]
[size=45]It seems that the Kurdistan Parliament elections will be postponed soon, especially after the Federal Court issued a decision to stop the Election Commission’s procedures for the region’s elections.[/size]
[size=45]In recent days, a number of components, including Turkmen and Christians, have called for postponing the Kurdistan Parliament elections, for the purpose of allowing these components to participate and represent their citizens.[/size]
[size=45]The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, filed a complaint with the Federal Court against the Election Commission, due to its abolition of quota seats for minorities, and he also objected to the division of electoral districts in the provinces of the region.[/size]
[size=45]Logistical arrangements[/size]
[size=45]A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Muhammad Amer Al-Dershoi, said in an interview with Al-Mada, “The Kurdistan Parliament elections must be with the participation of all parties, including the party and all religious and national components, including Christians and Turkmen.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, “The presence of special seats for Christians and Turkmen in the Kurdistan Parliament is a constitutional right, and the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government has fulfilled his official and moral mission, and therefore all components of the region must be involved in the elections.”[/size]
[size=45]He continued, “The current data, and after the Federal Court’s decision, indicate that the Kurdistan Parliament elections cannot be held on the specified date, which is the tenth of next June, because holding the elections requires technical and logistical arrangements, and these procedures cannot be carried out within 30 days.”[/size]
[size=45]The President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, had set June 10 as the date for holding the region’s parliament elections.[/size]
[size=45]However, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the largest Kurdish party, announced a boycott of the regional parliament elections due to what it described as the interference of the Federal Court after its decision to cancel the constituent seats and deprive more than 400,000 voters from the region’s population from casting their vote, in addition to reducing the parliamentary seats from 111 seats to 100 seats.[/size]
[size=45]Postponing the elections[/size]
[size=45]For his part, Miran Saeed, professor of law at the University of Dohuk, said in an interview with Al Mada: “The Federal Court, in its previous decision, reduced the seats in the regional parliament and did not abolish the quota seats, and the distribution of electoral seats was not according to the population distribution of each of the region’s governorates.” “.[/size]
[size=45]He adds, “The recent decision of the Federal Court, which stopped the Commission’s procedures, is tantamount to support for a decision that will be issued by the President of the Region, Nechirvan Barzani, to postpone the Kurdistan Parliament elections.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “logically, at the present time, it is no longer possible to hold the regional parliament next June, as the new Federal Court decision requires time, and therefore it is expected that a decision to postpone the elections will be taken by the region’s presidency.”[/size]
[size=45]He stated that “the president of the region has the support of the Federal Court, and any postponement decision he issues will not be subject to embarrassment or objection from the other Kurdish parties, because it was based on a judicial decision.”[/size]
[size=45]A number of observers and specialists in political affairs have confirmed in numerous statements the difficulty or impossibility of holding Kurdistan Parliament elections without the participation of the Kurdistan Democratic Party for a number of reasons, including its political and popular weight, and also its absence from the scene since the establishment of the first Parliament of Kurdistan in 1992, as well as the weakness of participation in Elections, the fact that the Democrats with the components constitute more than 55% of the voters’ votes.[/size]
[size=45]In the last special elections for the regional parliament, the Kurdistan Democratic Party obtained 45 seats, and with the component seats it reached 56 seats, which is more than half the number of seats in the Kurdistan Parliament, and the majority that enabled it to form the government.[/size]
[size=45]Golden opportunity[/size]
[size=45]In the same context, writer and political analyst Ali Al-Baidar believes that “the Federal Court’s decision to stop the procedures for the region’s elections will give the political forces in the Kurdistan region, especially the two main Democratic parties and the National Union, an opportunity to reconsider the understandings and agree on many of the outstanding issues between them.”[/size]
[size=45]He added via (Al-Mada), “Taking arbitrary measures against the region could lead to societal crises, and therefore the recent decision of the Federal Court will be a key to resolving the crisis of the region’s parliament elections, and therefore things are moving towards postponing the elections, and giving an opportunity and space for dialogue.”[/size]
[size=45]After the Democratic Party announced a boycott of the elections, many diplomatic missions, consuls and foreign ambassadors visited the city of Erbil and met with the leader of the Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, and members of the party’s political bureau, for the purpose of dissuading them from the boycott decision, amid assurances that the Kurdistan elections would be postponed.[/size]
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