KRG Minister of State Khalid Sh (Photo Credit: Kurdistan Regional Government)

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SULAIMANI — Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of State Khalid Salam Saeed, popularly known as Khalid Shwani, told Voice of America Kurdish on Friday (August 23) that the Kurdish parties must prevent a census from taking place in Kirkuk governorate.

Shwani, who is a senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), said that conducting a census in the near future would inaccurately count the size of the ethnic Kurdish population, since many have been displaced from the governorate in recent years.

He added that the parties should nevertheless be prepared for a census and for the provincial elections currently scheduled for April 2020.

A census is a major aspect of Article 140 of the 2005 Iraqi Consitution, which sets out a roadmap for settling the status of the province.

On July 29, Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi said that the country was preparing for the first attempt at a comprehensive census since the 1980s.

(NRT Digital Media)