Turkmen party praises KDP's decision to boycott the Kurdistan Parliament election

Shafaq News/ The Turkmen Development Party on Monday supported the Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) decision to boycott the Kurdistan Parliament election scheduled for June 10. In a Facebook post, party leader Muhammad Muhammad Elkhani said that "other Kurdish parties should have the same honorable position as the KDP in boycotting the election." "It is strange that the Kurdish parties have chosen to remain silent even about their rights. How can they participate in elections that deprive their voters and communities of their rights?" he added. Elkhani continued, "We, in the Turkmen community, support the statement of the KDP's political bureau to defend the rights of minorities and the quota system. We expect the same national and rational stance from other Kurdish parties and figures." Meanwhile, independent candidate for the Kurdistan Parliament election, Omed Balani, announced in a Facebook post that he will also boycott the vote. "I, as an independent individual candidate, will boycott the sixth round of the Kurdistan Parliament election scheduled for June 10," he said. "I will submit a request tomorrow to the Independent High Electoral Commission - Erbil Office to postpone the Kurdistan parliamentary election," he added. Earlier today, the KDP announced that it will not take part in the Kurdistan parliamentary election, citing the Federal Supreme Court's rulings against the constitutionality of the election. The party's political bureau said in a statement that "it is in the interest of our people and our homeland that our party does not comply with an unconstitutional ruling and a system imposed from outside the will of the people of Kurdistan and its constitutional institutions." 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 in the Regional parliament for ethnic and religious minorities. In response, most Christian and Turkmen political parties decided to boycott the elections. As per Article 36 of the Kurdistan Parliamentary Election Law, specific seats were reserved for various minority groups, including five seats for Chaldeans and Assyrians, one seat for Armenians, and five seats for Turkmens.