Deputy Speaker Dr. Hemin Hawrami and Secretary Muna Kahveci meet with consuls general and diplomatic officials of US, UK, EU member states

Kurdistan Parliament Deputy Speaker Dr. Hemin Hawrami and Secretary Muna Kahveci on 21 May 2023 met with the consuls general and diplomatic officials of the US, UK, EU and several EU member states, and discussed the next Parliament elections and the current political situation.

Deputy Speaker Hawrami and Secretary Kahveci thanked the consuls general and other officials of the US, UK, EU, France, Germany, Netherlands and Czechia for their longstanding friendship and support for Kurdistan Region.

Dr. Hawrami explained the steps taken and meetings in Parliament over many months to find common ground and achieve compromises on all the outstanding election issues.

The Deputy Speaker said that elections should be held on the date set by Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani. To avoid more delays, he said, the mandate of the Kurdistan High Election Commission should be renewed and the first reading should be held of all the bills submitted by the different political parties on amendments to the Election Law, Law No. 1 of 1992.

Secretary Kahveci said that Kurdistan’s ethnic component communities want the elections to be held on the date set, and that they themselves should decide about the election system for their communities’ representatives. Protecting the peaceful coexistence between all the ethnic and religious communities of Kurdistan Region is essential, she said.

The foreign representatives said that they welcomed the recent rapprochement between the political parties on several issues and said that they hope the election will take place this year.