The Parliament’s fifth term will end in 29 days, and extending the Parliament’s life will also extend the KRG and the Kurdistan Region Presidency terms, according to legal experts.

After rounds of negotiations, the Kurdistan region parties failed to reach a date to hold parliamentary elections, and they indefinitely postponed the time for holding elections. Today, the Kurdistan Parliament passed the “Continuation of Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament’s fifth term” bill, giving its current term an extra year.

The bill passed with 80 yes votes, and the Parliament’s current term is extended until fall 2023. Kurdistan Justice Group and Kurdistan Islamic Union boycotted the session, while New Generation Movement objected to the bill. 

According to the Kurdistan Regional Government Presidency Law, the Kurdistan Region Presidency’s term life depends on Parliament’s life. Accordingly, the Parliament would extend the terms of the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Presidency.

In a statement regarding the reasons behind giving the Parliament an extra year, the Kurdistan Parliament presidency said, “the purpose of the extension is to prevent the creation of legal and constitutional vacuum and to protect national unity. And further, prepare for the Parliament’s sixth term because the current term of the Kurdistan-Iraqi Parliament is coming to an end in weeks.

There are five extensions since the establishment of the Kurdistan Parliament in 1992, and a total of  the Parliament has extended its life on more than one occasion. The second term of Parliament was supposed to end on June 4, 2009, but the political parties agreed to extend it for over two months. Parliament’s third term was to expire legally on August 20, 2013, but the political parties opened it for seventy days.  

The Parliament’s fourth session of the Kurdistan Parliament was to end on November 6, 2017, legally but was again extended for over a year.