Iraq: Local elections to be held in April

Iraq’s Parliament today voted in favour of holding local elections in conjunction with parliamentary polls slated for April next year.

“A majority of MPs voted today to conduct local elections – initially slated for September – at the same time as next April’s parliamentary polls,” Abbas Al-Bayati, an MP for Iraq’s Shia National Alliance bloc, told the Anadolu Agency.

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According to Al-Bayati, the decision was based on a proposal submitted earlier by Parliament’s legal committee.

Before today’s decision, several Iraqi political parties had called to postpone scheduled local polls with a view to reducing high administrative costs associated with conducting elections.