How to decide the final women in the Kurdistan parliamentary elections

The sixth session of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) parliamentary elections were held on November 18 and However, the electronic counting of votes has once again caused a lot of talk and doubt about some of the results, which requires answers and solutions to problems, and in the future, this dubious system should be ended and through manual counting of votes. Solve the problem of not reading fingerprints and convert them to eye stamps, solve the problems of choice, all this despite the pressure and Forced voting and vote buying (which we will discuss further about these issues related to the fundamental problems of the KRG regime for another time).

Another sensitive issue that may be at play for some entities and lists is the issue of the final exposure of women to each of these entities. Therefore, in this article we will focus on how to count the last woman in this election.

According to Article 22-1 of the Kurdistan Parliamentary Election Law No. 1 of 1992, the number of women members of the Kurdistan Parliament shall not be less than 30%. The Iraqi High Election Commission (IHEC) has issued Regulation No. 9 of 2024 to regulate the distribution of seats and replacement of members of the Kurdistan Parliament At least (30%) of the number of members of parliament as follows:

1. If the last woman is secured in any constituency, no change will be made.

2. If the final woman is not obtained according to the election results, one or more successful men from each open list shall be replaced by one or more unsuccessful women from the same list who received the most votes among the women candidates If it is still necessary and the last woman has not been filled, the next step will be taken as follows:

a. The final exposure of women in each list in each constituency is determined by dividing the number of seats won by three, but the number after Fariza is not counted.

b. If the last number of women’s seats is not completed in stage (a), the second seat of the lists that won two seats will be allocated to the last women in the entities that received fewer votes.

c. If after the above two stages, the last woman is still not secured, the seats of the open lists that have won one seat will be allocated to the last woman in the entities that have received fewer votes upwards.

3. Women who are elected by their own vote, whether on open or individual lists, are considered to be in the last row of women.

4. The last seats of the communities are excluded from the women’s last system.

5. In the table of how to distribute the 100 seats of the Kurdistan Parliament in Article (2-2) of Rule No. (9) of 2024, the Commission has determined the number of women’s seats for each constituency, which makes a total of (30) seats (30%) of the total seats in parliament, which is 100 seats.

Considering the above steps, if the results remain the same as the preliminary results and there is no change in the number of seats of the lists, the final exposure of women lists for all four constituencies is as follows:

1. Sulaimani Circle:

a. Total number of seats:

b. Minimum women’s final seat:

 See Table 1.

2. Erbil Constituency:

a. Total number of seats:

b. Minimum last female seat:

 See Table 2.

3. Duhok Constituency:

a. Total number of seats:

b. Minimum last seat for women:

 See Table 3.

4. Halabja Circle:

a. Total number of seats:

b. Minimum last female seat:

 See Table 4.