Baghdad allocates 5 seats for minorities in South Kurdistan

Iraqi High Election Commission Spokesperson Jumane Helayi announced that Turkmen, Christians and Armenians living in the Federal Kurdistan Region were allocated 5 seats in the parliament.

According to RojNews, Jumane Helayi, spokesperson for the Iraqi High Election Commission, said: "According to the decision of the Federal Supreme Court, 5 of the 100 seats allocated to the Kurdistan Region Parliament will be reserved for the Turkmen, Christian and Armenian components of the region."

The distribution of seats was determined as follows:

2 seats for Turkmens and Christians in Hewlêr

2 seats for Turkmens and Christians in Sulaymaniyah

1 seat for Armenians in Dohuk.

The Federal Court had previously cancelled 11 seats reserved for different communities and beliefs within the scope of the lawsuit filed against the electoral system of the Kurdistan Region. Thus, the number of seats in the parliament in Hewlêr (Erbil) was reduced from 111 to 100.

With the new decision, there will be no increase in the number of seats; these seats will be included in the current number of parliamentarians. In other words, the number of seats has been arranged as 95+5.