SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Speaker of the Kurdistan Region parliament on Wednesday with the President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) discussed drafting the constitution and the necessity to build unanimity over that matter.
Speaker of the Kurdistan Region Parliament Rewaz Fayaq met with KDP President Masoud Barzani in Erbil’s Pirmam, discussing drafting the constitution for the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, read a statement posted on Barzani’s Facebook page.
Fayaq and Barzani also talked over the necessity to build coordination and unanimity between the political parties and social components of the Kurdistan Region to draft a constitution.
“President of the KDP offered his support for any efforts aiming at building unity to draft the constitution of the Kurdistan Region by the top institutions and political parties,” it said.
The Kurdistan Region has a drafted constitution since 2009, written by academics and legal experts but never passed in the parliament over disputes among parties for certain articles.
Kurdish political parties have been struggling to agree on a constitution since then. Therefore the Region heavily relies on the Iraqi constitution.
The talks over the drafting of a constitution are at a time when the Kurdistan Region shall host the parliamentary election on October 1st this year, according to a decree signed by President of the Region Nechirvan Barzani earlier this year.
The 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.
“Every reasonable individual knows that the election will not take place on October 1,” Parliament speaker Fayaq in early September said.
“We have made 11 meetings either directly or indirectly with the political parties, but they have failed to reach an agreement,” She said. “Parties’ failure to reach an agreement and the postponement of the election are unjustifiable,” She added.
