BAGHDAD — The Iraqi parliament lifted the freeze on the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) Nov. 10, over two weeks after provincial elections were scheduled to be held. Now, the fate of the provincial councils is once again at the center of debate in Iraq.

Parliament formed a commission on May 12 to investigate suspicions of fraud in the general elections. The IHEC’s work was frozen and placed under the tutelage of the judiciary.

Provincial elections were scheduled for Oct. 22 but were postponed for many reasons. IHEC chairman Maan al-Hitawi mentioned a few, stressing that “the IHEC requires a bit a time following what happened in the parliamentary elections. We need to issue new cards for voters and purchase new equipment to replace those that were burned in the IHEC warehouses in Rusafa in Baghdad.”

However, parliament did not officially postpone elections, and no date has been set for them, although the four-year mandate of the current provincial councils ended in June 2017. Thus, the extension of the provincial councils is unconstitutional. There is no constitutional loophole that would allow parliament to regulate the work of these councils, but parliament is in the process of amending the election law to set a new election date.