The Parliamentary Elections of 2018 in Kurdistan Region: unfairness in representation and its solution

Elections for the fifth round of Kurdistan Parliament were held in 2018. Relying on information (election results and MPs’ backgrounds) published by the Independent High Elections and Referendum Commission (IHERC) in the Kurdistan Region, electoral results have created inequality among Kurdistan Region’s governorates in terms of obtaining parliamentary seats when the number of valid voters is considered. The question to be tackled in this article is how to minimize this injustice to its minimum. In its search for an answer to this question, this article needs to excavate some issues. In the beginning, the researcher will briefly present the current electoral system in force in the Kurdistan Region. Then, and by relying on the information published by the IHERC in the Kurdistan Region, the researcher tries to explore what led to the presence of the injustice in the governorates’ share of parliamentary seats. Hence, as part of a solution to this problem, an electoral system (the non-proportional system, majority or plurality) is presented that can reduce the injustice to a large extent. Despite this, each electoral system, although appropriate in a context, may have its own shortcomings and thus a solution is needed. Thus, the last part of the research is devoted to the problems caused by the adoption of a non-proportional electoral system and the ways they can be solved.