ALBAWABA - Iraq's Supreme Court repeals Kurdish Parliament extension, declaring the unconstitutionality of any of its resolutions or legislations.
The controversy between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) hampered the elections that were supposed to be held back in December 2022, which forced the Kurdish Parliament to extend its mandate for another year.
"The Federal Supreme Court ruled that the law to extend the fifth term of the Kurdistan Iraq parliament - code number 12 of 2022 which has been passed in session number 12 on 9 October 2022 - is unconstitutional," the court told Iraqi state media.
The last Kurdish parliamentary elections in 2018, were tainted with large-scale voter fraud allegations by the KDP, Masoud Barzani's supporters, and the PUK, Jalal Talabani's supporters.
The speaker of the Kurdistan region's parliament Rewaz Fayaq and the president of the Kurdistan region Nechirvan Barzani were prosecuted by Yousuf Mohammed Sadiq, former speaker of the Iraqi Kurdistan region parliament, Sirwa Abdulwahid, a member of the New Generation Movement (NGM) opposition party in the Iraqi parliament and a number of other Kurdish politicians.
According to Article 51 of the Kurdistan region's election Law 1 of 1992, the plaintiffs argued that the extensions violated Articles 5 and 20 of the Iraqi constitution, that state the principles of democracy, peaceful turnover of power, and holding fair elections every four years.
Many Kurdish activists expressed their relief following the Supreme Court's decision.
