Lawmaker slams the Yazidi quota in the Iraqi parliament as "unconstitutional"

Shafaq News/ lawmaker Sharif Sleiman on Thursday denounced the quota share of the Yazidi community in the Iraqi parliament as "unconstitutional", urging the authorities to abide by the Federal Supreme Court's rulings.

In a press conference at the Parliament building earlier today, Sleiman argued that the current allocation of one seat to the Yazidi community is disproportionate to their population, which he stated to be over 600,000.

The lawmaker said that the current quota of the Yazidi community in the Iraqi parliament contradicts the provisions of Iraq's constitution, proposing a distribution of four seats in the governorate of Nineveh, the Yazidi's stronghold, and one seat to represent the community members residing in Dohuk.

Suleiman referred to federal court rulings in 2010 and 2021 that call for an increase in the number of seats allocated to the Yazidi community within the quota system, and urged the parliament to amend the electoral law accordingly.

The quota system was introduced in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, to ensure the representation of different religious and ethnic groups in the parliament. The system allocates a fixed number of seats to each group, based on their population size. However, the system has been criticized for reinforcing sectarian and ethnic divisions in the country.