Excerpt

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) elections are scheduled for the 25th of July, 2009. Voters in the KRG are poised to choose the region’s President and the 111 members of the KRG’s unicameral legislature,  the Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA).  The run up to the KRG’s election has seen a great deal of political maneuvering by both of Kurdistan’s established political parties in the face of the ascendency of  political newcomers who threaten the previously uncontested dominance of the KRG’s established parties. This brief paper will describe the structure of the KRG’s political bodies and offices, the major parties of Kurdistan, and the mechanics of the upcoming election.