"June 6, 2021, has been fixed as the date for the next legislative elections," said the premier, who came to power in May after months of protests forced his predecessor to resign.

"Everything will be done to protect and ensure the success of these polls," Kadhemi said in a televised speech.

Elections in Iraq are sometimes marred by violence and often by fraud.

The next parliamentary elections had originally been due to take place in May 2022.

But months of protests that began in October -- with thousands taking to the streets of Baghdad and across the south -- railed against the political system.

Demonstrators demanded that the system be dismantled, pointing to endemic corruption and what many see as the malign influence of sectarian interests.

Kadhemi was nominated in April, months after his predecessor Adel Abdel Mahdi stepped down -- the first time a premier has resigned before the end of his term since the US-led invasion 2003.

Abdel Mahdi's government proposed to parliament a new electoral law, which was quickly passed last year.

But the section detailing voting procedures and constituency boundaries has not been finalised, according to diplomats and experts.

It was not clear what role Iraq's election commission -- regularly accused of bias -- would have in organising the polls.