BAGHDAD, Oct 10 (NNN-NINA) – The lawmakers of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, voted yesterday, to extend the current four-year legislative term of the regional parliament for one more year.
In a session held earlier yesterday, the 111-seat parliament passed the bill with a majority of 80 lawmakers, with many Kurdish opposition lawmakers abstaining from Islamic parties and independent lawmakers, the regional parliament said in a statement.
The goal of the bill is to prevent a legal vacuum and ensure the smooth function of constitutional institutions, according to the statement.
The extension came, after Kurdish political parties failed to hold regional parliamentary elections on Oct 1 this year, a date set by regional president, Nechirvan Barzani, in Feb.
The failure to hold elections came, as a result of differences between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), over electoral districts and the quota of seats for ethnic and religious components in the region.
The regional parliamentary elections were held on Sept 30, 2018. The KDP took the lead with 45 seats, and the PUK came in second with 21 seats out of 111.– NNN-NINA
