Iraq’s Kurdistan to go to polls on Oct. 20

Parliamentary elections in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region will be held on Oct. 20, the regional presidency announced Wednesday, after delays and political quarrels repeatedly pushed back the vote.

The elections to pick the 100 representatives in the northern region’s legislature were initially scheduled for October 2022, and were last due to be held earlier this month, which did not happen.

“The parliamentary elections in Iraq’s Kurdistan will be held on Oct. 20,” said a decree from regional President Nechirvan Barzani, read by his spokesman Dilshad Shahab in a televised statement.

In February, the federal court issued a ruling to reduce the number of seats in the Kurdish parliament from 111 to 100, effectively eliminating a quota reserved for Turkmen and Christian minorities. The decision sparked the ire of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of the region’s two historic parties which holds key positions of power.