ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Shakhawan Abdullah, the Iraqi parliament’s second deputy speaker, said that Kurdish lawmakers in the legislature successfully fended off all proposed bills that would have been detrimental to the Kurdistan Region during the fifth parliamentary term.

Iraq is gearing up for a fresh cycle of parliamentary elections on November 11, with a total of 329 seats in the legislature up for grabs. The country’s last parliamentary elections were held in October 2021.

“[During this term] we repelled several bills that were written in a centralist manner and went against the Kurdistan Region,” Abdullah told The New Region on Friday.

Abdullah, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) lawmaker from Kirkuk, has served as the second deputy speaker of the legislature since the parliament’s fifth term began in January 2022. He is leading the KDP list in the oil-rich province for the upcoming elections.

“During this term, we exercised our positions in parliament literally,” added the official, stating that the KDP fully utilized its authority as the parliament’s deputy speaker to prevent infringements on the Kurdistan Region.

The KDP secured 31 seats in the 2021 elections, the most of any Kurdish party and the fourth most in the country overall.

“One of the priorities for the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s program in this [upcoming] term is to cement the principles of federalism by enacting several laws to strengthen the federal system, including the Federation Council Law,” said Abdullah.

Kurds have for years demanded the implementation of Article 65 of the 2005 Iraqi constitution, dictating the establishment of the “Federation Council,” which includes representatives from Iraq’s federal regions and the provinces that are not organized in a region.

“A law, enacted by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Council of Representatives [parliament], shall regulate the formation of the Federation Council, its membership conditions, its competencies, and all that is connected with it,” reads the Article.

The council would function as part of the legislative authority, alongside the parliament. Despite its significance, successive Iraqi parliament terms have failed to activate the body until now.