More Than 50 MPs Quit Kurdish Parliament in Protest Against Iraqi Court Ruling
More than 50 members of the parliament of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region have submitted their resignations in protest against an Iraqi Supreme Court decision deeming the parliament’s postponement of elections by a year unconstitutional.
Jihad Hassan, an MP from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which holds the largest number of seats in the regional parliament, said on Tuesday that all 45 members of the KDP bloc and nine MPs from other parties had resigned the previous day from the 111-member parliament.
Last month, the Federal Supreme Court in Baghdad ruled against a decision made by the Kurdish parliament last October to extend its legislative term and delay the elections by a year. The court made its ruling in response to a lawsuit filed by opposition political figures challenging the legality of the extension.
Since its inception in 1992, the Kurdish region has conducted five parliamentary elections, most recently in 2018.
In recent months, political tensions between the Kurdish parties have reached a peak. During a parliamentary session in May, a dispute between members of the KDP and the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party escalated into physical altercations, with punches being exchanged and plastic water bottles being thrown.
Legal expert Ali al-Tamimi said that now, with the Kurdish parliament having reached the end of its constitutionally mandated term, the region’s government would act as a caretaker government with limited powers.
He said the regional election commission’s tenure had also ended, making it ineligible to organize elections. The responsibility for conducting the region’s elections would instead fall to the Independent High Electoral Commission in Baghdad, he said.
The resignation of the Kurdish lawmakers could impact ongoing negotiations between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments aimed at restarting oil exports from the Kurdish region by way of Turkey, which have been stopped due to a legal dispute. A $152 billion budget passed earlier this month after months of contentious discussions solidifies Baghdad’s authority over the oil sector and allocates 12.6% of the revenue to the Kurdish region.
