No word on another extension
KDP misses deadline to submit candidates list for parliamentary election
ERBIL — The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of two main ruling parties in the Kurdistan Region, missed the legal deadline to submit its candidate list for the upcoming parliamentary elections, according to a spokesperson for Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
The deadline, which expired at midnight on Sunday, saw no submission from the KDP, while the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the region’s other ruling party, met the deadline earlier in the afternoon.
Jumana Al-Ghalai, a spokesperson for IHEC, confirmed to 964media that the commission is no longer accepting candidate lists from any coalitions or political entities. The original deadline had been extended from noon to midnight on Sunday, with no information on any further extensions.
“As of the midnight deadline, the KDP had not submitted the name of any candidate.” Al-Ghalai said. “The commission has not announced if there will be an additional extension for submissions,” she continued, leaving the KDP’s participation uncertain.
Previously, on March 18, the KDP declared its intention to abstain from the long-postponed elections now set for June 10. However, the party’s leader, Masoud Barzani, later assured U.S. Ambassador Alina Romanowski in a meeting that the KDP was not boycotting the process.
The KDP has voiced several objections to the Federal Court’s rulings on the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary election, including the transition to a multi-constituency system, a reduction in parliamentary seats from 110 to 100, and the allocation of three seats for Halabja governorate, instead of the six seats proposed by the KDP. The party also expressed reservations about the IHEC’s management of the region’s elections.