Iraqi government approves joint ethnic representation for national census in disputed areas

Shafaq News/ On Tuesday, the Iraqi Prime Minister’s media office announced the Council's latest measures to ensure a comprehensive and inclusive national population census.

Iraqi PM’s media office revealed in a statement that as part of the Council’s oversight of preparations for conducting the national population census across Iraq on November 20, the Council approved conducting the census in disputed areas by a joint team representing the three ethnicities (Arab, Kurdish, and Turkmen). In areas with a Christian majority, a Christian representative will be added to the team.

The Council addressed the census results and data comparison, tasking the Statistics Authority and the Kurdistan Region Statistics Authority to cooperate with the Ministry of Interior to compare data records with the census results, with a commitment to organize statistical tables for deportees, arrivals, and displaced persons in those areas.

“The Kurdistan Region Statistics Authority will be allowed to send a technical team to the main census operations room to observe and monitor the census operations continuously until completion,” the statement announced.

Regarding the support of the educational sector, the PM media office revealed that the Council increased the acceptance quota for top graduates from technical institutes in universities from 10% to 20%, allowing institute graduates to continue their undergraduate studies in similar or related fields.

The government also considered other issues and approved several decisions including the Civil Aviation Law, adjusting gas oil prices, and concluding lease contracts with the Independent High Electoral Commission.