ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The decision to upgrade the status of Diyala’s disputed Jalawla (Gulala) from subdistrict to district days earlier was overturned by a majority vote, an official said on Sunday, with the elevation sparking criticism from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as an “attempt at demographic change.”

“The governor issued that decision and sent it to Baghdad without consulting the council members or seeking their opinion on whether they agreed to upgrade Jalawla to district status,” Sarwar Ali, director of the office of Diyala Provincial Council member Aws Ibrahim, told The New Region.

The Kurdistan Region’s body for overseeing the implementation of Article 140 of the constitution on Friday, a day after the decision was announced, criticized the Iraqi government’s unilateral decision to upgrade the administrative title of disputed Jalawla from subdistrict to district, calling it “another attempt at demographic change.”

After the council became aware that the decision was made by the governor alone, “Aws Ibrahim immediately began collecting signatures. Out of a total of 15 members, nine council members formed a consensus and by majority vote overturned the decision,” Ali said.

Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution requires the reversal of the Ba'athist regime’s Arabization policies and mandates a process to outline a clear and definitive boundary in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad by introducing a referendum to determine the will of the residents living on the lands.

According to the constitution, no changes can be made to disputed territories until Article 140 is implemented.

Although the article specifies that this process must be completed by no later than December 31, 2007, successive Iraqi governments have failed to implement the constitutional article for over two decades.

Jalawla has a diverse ethnic composition, being home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmens. The town had a Kurdish-majority population before the 1960s but was subjected to intense Arabization by Saddam Hussein’s Ba'athist regime.

The Islamic State (ISIS) seized control of most of Jalawla from August 2014, driving out its Kurdish population, with the support of anti-Kurdish Sunni local tribes, mainly the Karawi tribe.

The chief of Diyala’s Provincial Council, Omar al-Karawi, who announced the controversial step, hails from the ISIS-affiliated tribe.

The town was recaptured by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iran-backed groups of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in November 2014, who would go on to jointly administer Jalawla’s affairs until the withdrawal of the Peshmerga in October 2017.

The council has since voted on at least three separate occasions to oust Karawi from the position, with the decision repeatedly overruled by the Iraqi judiciary.