Yesterday, a violent brawl erupted in the Kurdistan Parliament in northern Iraq between MPs from the Kurdistan Democratic Party and MPs from the Patriotic Union over an electoral law dispute. The commission is an obstacle to the timely holding of parliamentary elections, according to the Iraqi network Rudaw.
The head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc, Zana Mala Khaled, told reporters that an agreement had been reached on the resumption of the activities of the Electoral Commission in its current composition with other blocks in parliament, but at the same time, he indicated that there were disagreements. a stumbling block and source of contention between the two ruling democratic parties and the National Union.
What sparked controversy to the point of confusion in Parliament was the “inclusion of the item on the resumption of the work of the Electoral Commission on the agenda of yesterday’s session”, a move that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan considered “illegal”, given that the Internal Regulations of the Parliament require the disclosure of any new issues agenda of Sessional Affairs at least 24 hours before the start of the session.
Parliamentary elections were postponed last year in Iraqi Kurdistan due to disagreements between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan over the current electoral law, prompting the legislature to extend its mandate for a year, with elections due on November 18.