IHEC awaits new election date from Nechirvan Barzani
Iraq’s electoral commission (IHEC) has officially requested a new date for the Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections after a series of legal challenges derailed the original June 10 poll.
On Wednesday, the head of IHEC sent a letter to the Region’s presidency noting that a new date needs to be set for the election. On May 27, IHEC informed the KRG that it was unable to organize the elections for June 10. IHEC’s head, Judge Omar Ahmad, has proposed September 5 as the new date.
What caused the postponement?
A legal challenge by KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani led to a temporary injunction against IHEC. This delay meant that the electoral commission did not have enough time to prepare for the June 10 elections. The effort appeared to be a coordinated move by the political elite in Baghdad and Erbil to save face and avert a potentially disastrous KDP boycott.