Elections
The first election for the Kurdistan National Assembly (later Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament-IKP) was held in 1992. No elections were then held for the next 13 years until the 2005 elections which coincided with the election of the Iraqi Interim Government and election of governorate councils. Under Article 8 of the Kurdistan Electoral Law, elections must be held every four years and the last election was held in July 2009.
Anyone aged 18 or over who is a citizen of the Kurdistan Region and is on the electoral register is eligible to vote in a direct, universal and secret ballot. Elections for the IKP are based on a closed party-list proportional representation system. Electors vote for a party’s list of candidates, rather for an individual candidate. After the election results are announced, each party is allocated seats in proportion to the number of votes it received, using the ranking order of candidates on its list.
In the 2005 elections, representation of ethnic minorities was ensured by a rule that stated if no party or person representing a minority (such as Turkmen, Chaldeans or Assyrians) gained a seat, one seat will be allocated to a party or person representing that minority. In 2009 this was achieved using reserved seats.
Read more about this topic: Kurdistan Parliament
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