SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdistan Justice Group (KJG) will soon decide whether to withdraw from the Kurdistan Region Parliament or stay in the chamber, a move prompted by the Region’s legislative body after it extended the 5th parliamentary term recently.
The Kurdistan Region Parliament has recently, this month, passed a bill by the majority, which extended the parliamentary term for an extra year and postponed the general elections.
The extension decision came as the Region was supposed to hold elections on October, 1 this year, however, it has been postponed to December 2023.
On Saturday, a proclaimed opposition party in the current term, the Kurdistan Justice Group high council carried out a meeting regarding that matter, it said in a statement.
The statement revealed that the meeting of the council has decided to forward that matter to the Group’s leadership Council.
The leadership council is set to convene this week to decide whether to withdraw from the Kurdistan Region Parliament or stay in the chamber, according to the statement.
“The leadership council will announce its stance in coordination with the like-minded members of parliament who protest that decision and co-stance with us after the evaluation of the situation,” it said.
The Kurdistan Justice Group holds seven seats and its latest move to decide on its withdrawal was followed by similar from other factions in the parliament.
Earlier, Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) decided to withdraw from the Kurdistan Region parliament.
The KIU called the extension “illegal”.
“KIU leadership said following November, 6 the legal parliamentary term will be over and its faction must be withdrawn from the chamber,” back then, a statement said.
“Our supporters have voted for us only for four years, we are not supporting the extension of the term,” Chairman of KIU faction Sherko Jawdat in a press conference said.
“We previously attempted to prevent the extension of the term,” Jawdat added.
In February, the President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani signed a decree setting the date for the region’s parliamentary election to October 1, 2022.
The Region’s parliament has immediately justified why they passed such a controversial bill, explaining that it was to prevent legal, and constitutional gaps and preserve national unity with further preparation for the next general elections.
The Kurdistan Region held parliamentary elections in September 2018.
Parliamentary elections are held every four years in the Kurdistan Region. A minimum quota of 30% of seats in the 111-seat house is reserved for women and 11 seats for parties representing minorities.
