Shwani, who is a senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), said that conducting a census in the near future would inaccurately count the size of the ethnic Kurdish population, since many have been displaced from the governorate in recent years.

According to NRT he added that the parties should nevertheless be prepared for a census and for the provincial elections currently scheduled for April 2020.

A census is a major aspect of Article 140 of the 2005 Iraqi Consitution, which sets out a roadmap for settling the status of the province.

On July 29, Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi said that the country was preparing for the first attempt at a comprehensive census since the 1980s.

Reporter’s code: 50101