Kurdistan Parliament

Kurdistan Parliament

The Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament (Kurdish: پەرلەمانی كوردستان or simply Perleman, Arabic: المجلس الوطني لكوردستان‎) or IKP, is the parliament of Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraqi Kurdistan. The IKP is made up of representatives from the various parties, lists or slates that are elected every four years to serve by the inhabitants of the provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan currently governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government. Prior to the new Kurdistan Election Law passed in March 2009, the body was referred to as the Kurdistan National Assembly.

The IKP is a 111-member unicameral body in which 11 seats are reserved for non-Kurdish minority communities of the Iraqi Kurdistan region. The IKP building is located in Erbil, the official capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

The IKP holds two sessions per year, each covering a span of four months out of the year. The IKP works by committees that focus on certain areas such as legal affairs, education and higher education, finance and economy, or relations and culture. Laws proposals and bills are initiated via the Regional Council of Ministries or at least by the endorsement of ten individual members of parliament in order to voted on and eventually passed to the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

Since its formation, the IKP has passed several important laws relating to administration, political parties, the press, the economy, culture, and society.