The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of North Iraq has denied permission to the Assyria Council Europe (ACE), Foundation Assyria Netherlands (SAN) and the Christian human rights organization Jubilee Campaign to monitor the elections on Saturday, September 21 when citizens of the KRG region elected their representatives for the next four years. Candidates for the Assyrian (Christian) parties stood for elections as well. However, during the 2009 elections, many Christians have been deprived of the right to vote because they were consistently denied access to the polling stations. ACE, SAN and Jubilee Campaign therefore were committed to monitor the 2013 elections to check whether the rights of the Assyrian minority have improved since the last election. In time and in line with the procedures, the Dutch NGO's requested IHEC (Independent High Electoral Commission) to give them permission for a monitor mission. This commission however waited until a few days before election day before granting their permission, depriving the delegation the opportunity of getting the mandatory authorization from KRG. It is curious that IHEC waited until a few days before election day to 'pave the way' for the Dutch delegation, in full knowledge that this would make it impossible for the delegation to arrange KRG's permission in time. This conduct raised serious doubts whether the Kurdish authorities even wanted to be open and transparent during the elections. "It is unacceptable that Jubilee Campaign, an organization with a consultative status at the United Nations, has been denied permission to monitor the elections in Northern Iraq", states Peter Bronsveld, director of Jubilee Campaign. "It is essential that transparency should be enforced in a region where democracy is fragile and under heavy pressure because of the Syrian conflict. We are certainly going to discuss this with our partners in The Hague and Brussels." The Dutch delegation is extremely concerned about the rights of minorities and opposition groups in Northern Iraq. Members of the Christian minority, who are the indigenous population of Iraq, are facing discrimination and intimidation on a daily basis. The Kurdish government in Northern Iraq has now even started an extensive 'Kurdification' of the region. Assyrian history is being rewritten and labeled as Kurdish, and Assyrians are being deprived of the opportunity of living as a minority with their own rights, education and language. This policy of discrimination has led to a consistent exodus of Assyrians from Northern Iraq to European countries.