The 2024 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election was held on 20 October 2024.[1] Seats to the Kurdistan Region Parliament are being elected.[2] The results of the elections were announced on 21 October 2024, by the Independent High Electoral Commission in Baghdad.[3]
Background
The 2024 parliamentary elections are set to be held after a two year delay. In February 2024, the Supreme Court of Iraq issued a verdict revoking and amending a number articles of the Kurdistan Region’s election law (Law No. 1, 1992). Most notably, the verdict included dismantling the 11 seats reserved for minorities, reducing the parliamentary seats from 111 to 100, and designating the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) to oversee the elections instead of Kurdistan Region’s electoral commission, as well as redefining the region’s electoral system.[4][5] The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council's elections branch subsequently ordered IHEC to allocate five out of 100 seats to minorities;[6][7][8] three to Christians (2 Assyrian, 1 Armenian) and two to Turkmen.[9] Women must comprise at least 30% of elected members.
In terms of the changes to the electoral system, the verdict redefined the law so that members are elected by open-list proportional representation using the Hare quota in four electoral districts corresponding to the region's four governorates, instead of one district:[10][5] Duhok, Erbil, Halabja and Sulaymaniyah.[11]
Participation
There are 2,899,578 eligible voters.[11] A total of two alliances, 13 parties and 124 independent candidates took part in the election.[11]
Results
| Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– |
|---|
| Kurdistan Democratic Party | 809,197 | 43.15 |  0.95 | 39 | 6 |
| Patriotic Union of Kurdistan | 408,141 | 21.77 |  1.27 | 23 | 2 |
| New Generation | 290,991 | 15.52 | 7.32 | 15 | 7 |
| Kurdistan Islamic Union | 116,981 | 6.24 | 1.14 | 7 | 2 |
| Kurdistan Justice Group | 64,710 | 3.45 | 3.55 | 3 | 4 |
| Helwest Movement | 55,775 | 2.97 | New | 4 | New |
| People's Front | 33,365 | 1.78 | New | 2 | New |
| Kurdistan Region Coalition | 13,199 | 0.70 | 0.8 | 1 | 1 |
| Gorran Movement | 11,621 | 0.62 | 11.38 | 1 | 11 |
| Babylon Movement | 7,399 | 0.39 | Quota | 1 | New |
| Sardam Coalition | 6,163 | 0.33 | New | 0 | – |
| Kurdistan Islamic Movement | 5,503 | 0.29 | New | 0 | – |
| Turkmen Reform Party (Muna Kahveci) | 3,664 | 0.20 | Quota | 1 |  0 |
| Kurdistan Islamic Relations Movement | 1,799 | 0.10 | New | 0 | – |
| Iraqi Turkmen Front | 1,725 | 0.09 | New | 0 | 1 |
| National Coalition | 1,228 | 0.07 | New | 0 | – |
| Independents | 43,729 | 2.33 | – | 3 | – |
| Total | 1,875,190 | 100.00 | – | 100 | – |
|
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,899,578 | 72% | |
|---|
| Source: Kurdistan24 (1, 2) Shafaq, Reuters Rûdaw IHEC |
Special votes
On 18 October a "Special voting" round took place for members of the ministries of Peshmerga and Internal Security.[12] with 215,560 eligible voters and 208,521 votes cast (a turnout of 97%).[13][clarification needed] The votes were counted from 21:00 to 23:00 GMT+3, on 18 October 2024.[14]
Results
| Party | Votes | % |
|---|
| Kurdistan Democratic Party | 82,979 | 47.66 |
| Patriotic Union of Kurdistan | 51,345 | 29.49 |
| New Generation Movement | 11,207 | 6.44 |
| Kurdistan Islamic Union | 2,885 | 1.66 |
| National Stance Movement | 2,492 | 1.43 |
| Kurdistan Justice Group | 2,391 | 1.37 |
| People's Front | 2,110 | 1.21 |
| Babylon Movement | 844 | 0.48 |
| Gorran Movement | 705 | 0.40 |
| Kurdistan Region Coalition | 311 | 0.18 |
| National Coalition | 44 | 0.03 |
| Other | 16,794 | 9.65 |
| Total | 174,107 | 100.00 |
|
| Valid votes | 174,107 | 86.73 |
|---|
| Invalid/blank votes | 26,646 | 13.27 |
|---|
| Total votes | 200,753 | 100.00 |
|---|
| Registered voters/turnout | 215,560 | 93.13 |
|---|
| Source: Rûdaw |
Parties
Liberals and centre-left:
Leftists:
Islamists:
Secular Conservatives and Centre-Right:
Minorities:
Technical difficulties
The election used electronic voting ballot machines which often malfunctioned and failed to detect voters' fingerprints.[15] In Erbil, a number of would-be voters were unable to participate due to the issue.[16]
References
