Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council adjusts Kurdistan Parliament seats for minority components

Shafaq News/ The Election Judiciary Committee within the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council has decided to allocate 5 out of 100 seats in the Kurdistan Parliament for the minority component.

The new seat allocation includes representation for the Christian and Turkmen communities within the Kurdistan region, consisting of two seats in Erbil Governorate, two in Al-Sulaymaniyah Governorate, and one in Duhok Governorate.

Notably, numerous religious and ethnic minorities live in Iraqi Kurdistan, mainly Turkmen, Assyrians, Yazidi, and Christians.

Last February, Iraq's Supreme Court declared that a specific article concerning the minority quota in KRG's provincial election law was deemed "unconstitutional." This article, part of a law initially adopted in 1992 and revised in 2013, mandates 11 quota seats out of 111 in the Kurdish parliament for ethnic and religious minorities.

The court declared that the Kurdish Parliament consisted of 100 seats only.

The decision, along with others, spread outrage among minority representatives and led to a boycott of the upcoming elections from many parties, mainly the Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Masoud Barzani.

Leader Barzani stated that the Federal Supreme Court's decision to cancel the component quotas in the Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections is a "blow to partnership and coexistence."

During this disturbance, the Supreme Judicial Council announced that it would accept an appeal temporarily halting the technical and financial preparations for the upcoming elections in the Kurdistan Region.

The number of eligible voters in the Kurdistan Parliament elections is approximately 3.7 million.