The current elections are being held under changed electoral rules that were agreed as part of the electoral reform adopted in April 2020 and commended by the Venice Commission.

The major changes are: 1. The removal of highly controversial district seats and shifting to fully closed party lists; and 2. The introduction of tightened criminal and administrative sanctions for electoral violations.

The amendments were preceded by two other significant reforms, municipal election reform and amendments to the Law on Political Parties.

To gain seats in parliament, parties need to receive a minimum of 5% of the votes. As for alliances, which consist of two or more party coalitions, need to receive a minimum of 7% of the votes.

A government forms if a party or an alliance gains 47% of the votes. If no political force gains 47%, then a maximum of three parties or alliances can unite and form a coalition government.

If a government is not formed within six days, a run-off round between the top two parties must be held 28 days after the first election.

A minimum of three political groups must enter parliament, regardless of the performance of the third-best performing party or alliance. The party that wins the run-off will be given the additional seats required for a 54% majority, with all seats allocated in the first round preserved.

Seats in the Parliament are allocated to parties using their national share of the vote. Four seats are reserved for national minorities (Assyrians, Kurds, Russians and Yazidis) with parties having separate lists for the four groups.

A gender quota requires any top section of a party list to include at least 30% of candidates of each gender.

If a party receives a majority of the vote but wins less than 54% of the seats, they will be awarded additional seats to give them 54% of the total. If one party wins over two-thirds of the seats, the losing parties which made it over the threshold will be given extra seats reducing the share of seats of the winning party to two-thirds.