Kurdistan prepares for the early parliamentary elections

Shafaq News/ Kurdistan's Minister of Interior, Rebar Ahmed, convened with the Regional Government's High Committee for the Elections Security earlier today, Tuesday.

Ahmed tweeted, "Supervised the meeting of the Kurdistan Regional Government's High-Security Elections Committee to review security plans and measures during election days."

"While we stress the importance of a free and fair process, the KRG will take all measures to ensure elections are conducted in a safe environment," he concluded.

In 2020, the government last year set a general election for June 6, 2021, roughly a year ahead of when it would normally be held.

However, the Independent High Election Commission (IHEC) proposed it be delayed to October to allow more time to prepare. The proposal was materialized later on January 19, 2021, when the elections were rescheduled to October 10 of the same year.

Early elections were a key demand of anti-government protesters who staged mass demonstrations that started in October 2019. Hundreds were killed by security forces and gunmen suspected of links to militia groups.

Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said that the decision to set a new date to hold an early contest was made to give IHEC enough time to be fully prepared to hold fair and transparent elections.