2013 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election

The legislative elections together with presidential and provincial were originally planned for September 21. However, in the months leading to the elections the parliament extended Massoud Barzani’s term for another two years. Meanwhile, IHEC delayed the provincial elections until November 21. Under Kurdish Election law political parties were allowed to campaign from August 28 until September 17th, four days before voting.^[5] The Peshmerga and police voted on September 19, in order for them to be able to guard the voting polls on September 21.^[6][7]

The election marked the first time the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan were running as individual parties since 1992. The Kurdistan Democratic Party was expected to win the most votes. The party has had a strong backing in the provinces of Duhok and Erbil and no challengers. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan meanwhile was facing competition from the Movement for Change. The Movement for Change had in the previous elections secured a surprising 25 seats in Sulaymaniyah, which had until then been a stronghold for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan also faced uncertainty due to internal conflicts and the absence of its leader Jalal Talabani who was recovering from a stroke.

On 5 September, a gunman opened fire on a campaign rally by the Movement for Change in the city of Sulaymaniyah, wounding one person.^[8] In the same week, clashes broke out between the opposition Movement for Change and PUK and KDP supporters that led to 12 people, mostly policemen, being wounded.^[9]

No party won enough votes to form a government outright. The Kurdistan Democratic Party won the most votes in Erbil and Duhok. The province of Sulaymaniyah was heavily divided. The Movement for Change won the second most votes which made it the prime partner for the Kurdistan Democratic Party to form a coalition with. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, unexpectedly, lost more than a third of its seats.^[10]

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan announced that it respected the results. Soon after the announcement high-ranking member of the party resigned accepting responsibility for the bad results.^[11] Both Islamists and socialists made gains. A total of 77 men and 34 women were elected.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Kurdistan Democratic Party	743,984	38.15	38	+8
	Gorran Movement	476,173	24.42	24	–1
	Patriotic Union of Kurdistan	350,500	17.97	18	–11
	Kurdistan Islamic Union	186,741	9.58	10	+4
	Kurdistan Islamic Group	118,575	6.08	6	+2
	Kurdistan Islamic Movement	21,834	1.12	1	–1
	Kurdistan Social Democratic Party	12,501	0.64	1	–1
	Communist Party of Kurdistan – Iraq	12,392	0.64	1	0
	Kurdistan Toilers' Party	8,681	0.45	1	+1
	Future Party	3,868	0.20	0	–1
	Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party	3,605	0.18	0	New
	Rights of People of Kurdistan	2,817	0.14	0	0
	Kurdistan Conservative Party	2,420	0.12	0	0
	People's Rights List	2,005	0.10	0	New
	Democratic National Union of Kurdistan	1,717	0.09	0	0
	Reform and Development List	1,323	0.07	0	New
	The Independents	868	0.04	0	New
Total		1,950,004	100.00	100	0
Turkmen minority reserved seats
	Turkmen Development List	5,259	44.23	2	New
	Erbil Turkmen	1,951	16.41	1	0
	Turkmen Change and Renewal	1,926	16.20	1	New
	Iraqi Turkmen Front	1,753	14.74	1	0
	Turkmen Democratic Movement	1,002	8.43	0	–3
Total		11,891	100.00	5	0
Assyrian minority reserved seats
	Assyrian Democratic Movement	6,345	48.19	2	0
	Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council	5,730	43.52	2	–1
	Sons of Mesopotamia	1,091	8.29	1	New
Total		13,166	100.00	5	0
Assyrian minority reserved seats
	Yervant Aminian	531	52.37	1	New
	Aram Shahin Davud Bakoyan	227	22.39	0	–1
	Ishkhan Arshak Kevorkian	197	19.43	0	New
	Nubar Siban Gharib Qurban	59	5.82	0	New
Total		1,014	100.00	1	0
Source: Ekurd,[12] Ishar TV[13]

• Official Full results