SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives Mohammed al-Halbousi is expected to pay a visit to the Kurdistan Region on Monday.
Halbousi is expected to discuss early parliamentary elections with Kurdish officials in Erbil, Esta Media Network has learned.
The Iraqi and Kurdish officials will also discuss relations between Kurds and Sunnis ahead of the elections.
Iraq is scheduled to hold early parliamentary elections on October 10, which was one of the main demands of anti-government protesters who organized months of mass demonstrations beginning in October 2020.
The vote is held every four years, but anti-government protesters demanded early elections.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Change Movement have formed an alliance under the name “Kurdistan Alliance” to participate in the elections.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said on Saturday that it would participate in the voting as an independent list, with 55 candidates in 11 Iraqi provinces.
In October 2019, the Iraqi Council of Representatives voted to approve new voting districts for sixteen governorates.
It approved seventeen electoral districts for Baghdad, six for Basra, five each for Dhi Qar and Sulaimani, four each for Babil, Anbar, Erbil and Diyala, three each for Najaf, Saladin, Duhok, Diwaniyah, Karbala, Wasit and Maysan, and two more for Muthanna governorate.
