Iraq’s top court delays Kurdistan parliament extension ruling

Postponement comes after fistfight between KDP and PUK members

Kurdistan parliament extension ruling will go to the courts. AFP

The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned a ruling on whether last year’s decision by the Kurdistan Region’s parliament to extend its term was constitutional.

The current parliament was inaugurated after the 2018 elections. A vote was supposed to be held last year but was postponed over differences between the major ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

The ruling comes after legislators from both parties were involved in a fistfight in parliament over a disagreement on the electoral commission

A new election for the 111-seat parliament and new president is now scheduled for November 18, but disagreements between the KDP and PUK may delay the vote.

To prevent the Kurdistan Region from entering a legal vacuum, the majority of the legislators voted in October last year to extend the four-year term of the legislative body by one year.

A few weeks later, the major opposition party in the region, the New General Movement, and a number of Kurdish politicians in the federal parliament in Baghdad filed a case against Rewaz Fayaq, speaker of the Kurdistan Region’s parliament.

They have called for the extension to be annulled, describing it as unconstitutional.

They have argued that the decision contradicts articles 5 and 20 of the Iraqi constitution, which emphasise the right of the Iraqi people to vote and take part in the democratic process.

They say it also contradicts article 51 of the Kurdistan Region parliament’s election law, which stipulates that a parliament term must not exceed four years.

The next session will be on May 30.

The postponement, the eighth since the case was filed, will further complicate the political scene in Kurdistan before the elections.

The fistfight between KDP and PUK politicians in parliament on Monday began after the KDP forced a vote on reactivating the electoral commission.

The PUK wanted to put the amended election law and the reactivation of the election commission in one package.

The two sides have since entered a legal battle as to whether the session was legal or not, deepening disagreements and threatening to delay the elections.