Iraq's Kurdistan region to hold delayed parliamentary election on October 20

BAGHDAD - The semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq has set a new date to hold parliamentary elections on Oct. 20, following a repeated delay, the regional presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.

Elections for Iraq's Kurdistan parliament, which were originally supposed to be held in 2022, were last scheduled to be held on June 10, but the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said it would boycott the election in protest over a ruling issued by the federal supreme court.

Iraq's federal supreme court ruled to cancel 11 seats reserved for minority groups, including Turkmen, Assyrians and Armenians, reducing the number of regional parliament seats to 100.

The February ruling also changed the electoral system to divide the Kurdistan region into four constituencies instead of the single-constituency system adopted in the previous elections in 2018.

The top court ruling prompted the powerful KDP to reject it as unconstitutional and boycotted the electoral procedure to register its candidates.

The federal court issued a new ruling in late May restoring five seats reserved for minorities, a move that regional officials said it helped to ease tension and convinced the KDP to agree to participate in October elections.

The October vote should elect 100 new lawmakers and a president for Kurdish regions which have gained self-rule in 1991.