The parliamentary elections in Iraqi Kurdistan were scheduled for February after they were repeatedly postponed due to political differences between the two main parties, Iraqi News reported.
In October 2022, Iraqi Kurdistan’s parliament extended the electoral cycle for an additional year due to political disputes between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan over how to divide electoral constituencies.
The parliamentary elections were scheduled for November 18, 2023, but Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) requested that they be postponed again due to their proximity to the date of the provincial council elections in Iraq, which took place on December 18.
The elections were then scheduled for February 25, 2024, but the IHEC requested in January that they be postponed again pending a decision from the Federal Supreme Court regarding Iraqi Kurdistan’s election law.
The court ruled on February 21 to reduce the number of MPs in the parliament of Iraqi Kurdistan from 111 to 100 and to give the IHEC, rather than another local organization, control over the election administration process, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).