Fistfight in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Parliament over election law

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Kurdistan Parliament in northern Iraq witnessed on Monday a violent fistfight between MPs belonging to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and MPs of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) due to a dispute over the election law.

MPs of the PUK objected to the reactivation of the electoral commission to hold the elections, considering the move illegal, while MPs of the KDP considered that the failure to activate the electoral commission is an obstacle to holding the parliamentary elections on time, according to Rudaw News.

The head of the KDP in Kurdistan’s Parliament, Zana Mala Khalid, told reporters that it was agreed to reactivate the electoral commission in its current form with other blocs in parliament, but he indicated that there are disagreements related to the number of seats allocated to minorities in parliament.

Khalid elaborated that the differences over minorities’ seats in the Kurdistan Parliament represent a source of disagreement between the two parties.

The addition of the electoral commission reactivation to the agenda of the Kurdish parliament’s session on Monday sparked the dispute to the point of a violent fistfight between MPs.

PUK MPs considered the step illegal as the parliament’s internal regulations require any new items within the session’s agenda to be announced at least 24 hours before the beginning of the session.

The parliamentary elections were postponed last year in the Kurdistan region of Iraq because of disagreements between the KDP and the PUK over the current election law, which prompted the legislative body to extend its mandate for a year, with elections to be held on November 18.