Kurdistan Parliament protests against Iraq Provincial Election Law to UNAMI's Director of Electoral Assistance Dr. Arian Aamir

Deputy Speaker Hemin Hawrami, Secretary Muna Kahveci and several MPs today met with Dr. Arian A. Aamir, UNAMI’s Director of Electoral Assistance and Principal Electoral Adviser, to protest against Iraq’s provincial election law.

Deputy Speaker Hawrami said, “The Iraqi provincial elections scheduled for April 2020 will not be free and fair if this law stands. Unlike the last election, IDPs will be prevented from voting outside their provinces.”

Dr. Aamir said, “UNAMI believes that IDPs must only return to their original places voluntarily. Telling IDPs to go back to their provinces to vote is against international standards.”

“UNAMI was concerned about this law before it was passed, and gave an advisory to the Iraqi Council of Representatives raising our concerns about Kirkuk, IDP voters and voter cards,” he added.

Deputy Speaker Hawrami said, “We will take all legal measures to amend the law. If the law stays as it is, it will damage Iraq’s political stability.”

Dr. Aamir assured the MPs that he will discuss UNAMI’s concerns about the law with the Iraqi authorities. 

Ms Jiwan Rozhbiyani, chair of Parliament’s Committee on Kurdistani Areas outside the KRG Administrative Area, said, “After the violence and abuses that followed the Kurdistan independence referendum, many Kurds in Kirkuk were forced to leave and became IDPs. Our committee has asked a lawyer to challenge the unconstitutional law in the Iraqi federal court, because it disenfranchises those citizens who are IDPs.”

Dr. Rebwar Babkeyi, chair of Parliament’s Relations and Diaspora Committee, said, “The law will reduce the Kurdish votes in some areas which means that Kurds will be deliberately under-represented in some provincial councils and this will increase political instability.”

The Kurdistan Parliament raised their concerns to the UNSG’s Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschart at a meeting in Baghdad earlier this month.

Some members of Parliament's Committee on Kurdistani Areas outside the KRG Administrative Area, and the Committee on Relations and Kurdish Diaspora, also participated in the meeting.