Deputy Speaker Hemin Hawrami welcomes Viola von Cramon, Chief of EU Observation Mission for Iraqi elections

Kurdistan Parliament Deputy Speaker Dr. Hemin Hawrami on 18 September welcomed Ms. Viola von Cramon, the Chief of the EU Observation Mission for the forthcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections. They discussed the election preparations and the important role of the EU mission in observing a free and fair vote and helping to increase the legitimacy and inclusiveness of the election.

Ms. Cramon, a Member of the European Parliament from Germany’s Alliance 90/Green Party, was accompanied by several colleagues from the EU observation mission.

Deputy Speaker Hawrami thanked the EU for establishing the observation mission for the Iraqi parliamentary elections which are scheduled for 10th October. He said that the observers can help to increase legitimacy, inclusiveness, participation and trust in the election process - before, during and after the vote.

The Deputy Speaker expressed his concern about the elections in the Kurdistani areas outside the KRG administrative area, such as Kirkuk, Sinjar and the Ninevah plains. Many IDPs from those areas will be unable to return to vote, he said, because of the security vacuum and political instability in those areas.

Dr. Hawrami and Ms. Cramon discussed concerns about security for voters at voting stations in those areas.

The Deputy Speaker asked that the EU observer mission cover all of Iraq. He also conveyed the need to improve voters’ ease of access to collecting their biometric voting cards.

Jiwan Rojbayani (KDP), chair of Kurdistan Parliament’s Committee on Kurdistani Areas outside the KRG Administrative Area, and Dr. Rebwar Babkayi (KDP), chair of the Relations and Kurdish Diaspora Committee, also participated in the meeting.