The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) only Christian minister, Ano Jawhar Abdoka, has pledged that the next regional parliament will work to safeguard Christian voting rights by restricting voting for Christian candidates to within the community itself. Abdoka, the KRG Minister of Transport and Communications, made the statement after casting his vote in today's parliamentary elections.

"We will struggle in the sixth term of the Kurdistan Region parliament to limit the voting inside the Christian house and to limit voter documents inside the Christian house," Abdoka told reporters, stressing the importance of preventing outside interference in Christian representation.

He argued that the move is necessary to protect Christian representation from "hands that want to impose themselves as unconstitutional and fake representatives of the Christians." Abdoka's comments reflect longstanding concerns about minority quota seats being influenced by larger political parties, often leading to the election of candidates who do not genuinely represent their communities.

Lawmakers from minority quotas in both Kurdish and Iraqi parliaments have faced criticism for being aligned with ruling parties, securing votes from districts where their community has minimal or no presence. These candidates are often seen as agents of larger political entities, whose supporters are mobilized to ensure their election in exchange for loyalty.

Abdoka acknowledged the challenges Christians face in the elections, particularly after a controversial ruling by Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court in February, which declared the 11 quota seats reserved for ethnic and religious minorities in the Kurdistan Region's parliament "unconstitutional." The ruling reduced minority representation to a mere five seats within the 100-member parliament, leaving three seats for Christians and two for Turkmens.

“As Christians, our participation in these elections is a challenge, after the unjust decision to eliminate the quota seats … and after the tyranny that the Christian and Turkmen parties faced … we were able to return a small number of our seats in the parliament,” Abdoka said, reflecting on the difficulty of securing fair representation.

The Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac Christian communities will have one seat each in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, and Duhok, while the Turkmen community will hold two seats in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah.

The election results are expected to be announced soon, with minority representation under intense scrutiny in the aftermath of the court's ruling.