Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party Says It Will Boycott Parliamentary Election 

Members of the Peshmerga are seen on the outskirts of Kirkuk with a poster of Masoud Barzani in the background. (EPA file photo)
Members of the Peshmerga are seen on the outskirts of Kirkuk with a poster of Masoud Barzani in the background. (EPA file photo)
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Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party Says It Will Boycott Parliamentary Election 

Members of the Peshmerga are seen on the outskirts of Kirkuk with a poster of Masoud Barzani in the background. (EPA file photo)
Members of the Peshmerga are seen on the outskirts of Kirkuk with a poster of Masoud Barzani in the background. (EPA file photo)

The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said on Monday it would boycott a parliamentary election in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq scheduled to be held in June in protest over a ruling issued by the federal supreme court.

The northern region's dominant KDP, which is headed by Masoud Barzani, said in a statement that Iraq’s federal court had violated the constitution and undermined regional authorities following a ruling in February that amended the Kurdish region's election law.

Iraq's federal supreme court ruled to cancel 11 seats reserved for minority groups, reducing the number of regional parliament seats to 100.

The February ruling also changed the electoral system to divide the Kurdistan region into four constituencies instead of the single-constituency system adopted in the previous elections in 2018, prompting the KDP to reject it as unconstitutional.

The federal court ruling also gave authority to the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to organize and oversee regional elections instead of the Kurdish regional election commission.

The ruling by the federal court came after a lawsuit by KDP's historic rival and junior coalition partner in government, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), according to a court document seen by Reuters and the party's lawyers.

A prominent member of the KDP told Asharq Al-Awsat that the boycott decision was taken after the party “realized that the federal supreme court had become a political player.”

He hoped that the move would “succeed in addressing the unconstitutional standing of this court and remove its legitimacy before we slip into a more centralized system.”

He warned that the boycott could lead to the postponement of the elections, through intra-Kurdish agreement, urging “Shiite and Sunni partners to amend the path taken by the court.”

The KDP has for month accused the federal supreme court of yielding to political agendas of some influential Shiite forces. It charges that the majority of its rulings against Kurdistan are politically motivated against the region’s constitutional standing.

US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski expressed concern over the KDP decision to boycott the elections.

“We are concerned by KDP’s announcement to boycott the Iraqi Kurdistan Region elections. We urge the Government of Iraq & the Kurdistan Regional Government to ensure that elections are free, fair, transparent, & credible.” Romanowski said on social media platform X on Monday.

The PUK is committed to holding Kurdistan parliamentary elections on June 10, PUK spokesman Saadi Ahmed said in a statement following the PDK decision.



Sudan Government Rejects UN-backed Famine Declaration

FILE PHOTO: A WFP worker stands next to a truck carrying aid from Port Sudan to Sudan, November 12, 2024. WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A WFP worker stands next to a truck carrying aid from Port Sudan to Sudan, November 12, 2024. WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei/Handout via REUTERS
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Sudan Government Rejects UN-backed Famine Declaration

FILE PHOTO: A WFP worker stands next to a truck carrying aid from Port Sudan to Sudan, November 12, 2024. WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A WFP worker stands next to a truck carrying aid from Port Sudan to Sudan, November 12, 2024. WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei/Handout via REUTERS

The Sudanese government rejected on Sunday a report backed by the United Nations which determined that famine had spread to five areas of the war-torn country.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) review, which UN agencies use, said last week that the war between Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces had created famine conditions for 638,000 people, with a further 8.1 million on the brink of mass starvation.

The army-aligned government "categorically rejects the IPC's description of the situation in Sudan as a famine", the foreign ministry said in a statement, AFP reported.

The statement called the report "essentially speculative" and accused the IPC of procedural and transparency failings.

They said the team did not have access to updated field data and had not consulted with the government's technical team on the final version before publication.

The Sudanese government, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has been based in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan since the capital Khartoum became a warzone in April 2023.

It has repeatedly been accused of stonewalling international efforts to assess the food security situation in the war-torn country.

The authorities have also been accused of creating bureaucratic hurdles to humanitarian work and blocking visas for foreign teams.

The International Rescue Committee said the army was "leveraging its status as the internationally recognised government (and blocking) the UN and other agencies from reaching RSF-controlled areas".

Both the army and the RSF have been accused of using starvation as a weapon of war.

The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted over 12 million people, including millions who face dire food insecurity in army-controlled areas.

Across the country, more than 24.6 million people -- around half the population -- face high levels of acute food insecurity.