Iraq News Now

Shafaq News/The Independent High Electoral Commission's office in Erbil reported a 70%voter turnout during the special parliamentary elections by noon on Friday,with only two complaints filed.

MarwanMohammed, Director of the Erbil Election Office, told Shafaq News, "As theelection commission, we believe that today's process was fair and transparent,with no significant violations reported."

He added,"The Erbil office recorded two complaints, and the commission has releasedits participation report, indicating that 70% of voters had cast their ballotsby noon in Erbil."

Mohammedfurther noted that no observations had been received yet from local orinternational organizations overseeing the elections. "These organizationshave the right to write reports on the process and submit them to higherauthorities, after which they will be forwarded to the Independent HighElectoral Commission for review," he said.

The specialvoting day, held exclusively for Peshmerga forces and internal securitypersonnel, began at 7 a.m. with 165 polling centers open across the KurdistanRegion and ended at 6:00 p.m.

By noon,turnout figures showed 77% participation in Duhok, 67% in Al-Sulaymaniyah, and64% in Halabja. The last estimated percentage of participation in Kirkukreached 50% by 3:30 p.m.

Earliertoday, Judge Omar Ahmed Mohammed, the head of the Board of Commissioners ofIraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), described the votingprocess for the Kurdistan Parliament’s sixth term as "smooth andorderly."

A total of1,091 candidates, including men and women, are competing for 100 seats in theregional parliament, five of which are reserved for minority communities aspart of a quota system.

According tothe election law, at least 30 seats must be allocated to women.

TheKurdistan Region has 2,899,578 registered voters, of whom 215,960 were eligibleto participate in the special vote. The remaining 2,683,618 voters will cast theirballots in the general election scheduled for Sunday.