Atlantic Council – Iraqi Kurdistan may get stuck in an electoral impasse.

File photo (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff/CC BY 2.0)

Kurdistan’s political stability “hangs in the balance” amid the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) decision to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections, according to Altantic Council nonresident fellow Sarkawt Shamsulddin. Writing on the Atlantic Council’s blog, Shamsulddin warned that “the longer elections are delayed, the higher the risk that instability in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq will spill over to the rest of Iraq.” The analysis comes following the deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament Shakhawan Abdullah saying the elections could not take place without the KDP’s participation.