Shafaq News/ Nearly two million and900 thousand voters will participate in the Kurdistan Parliament elections onthe 20th of October.
Hazem Al-Rudaini, head of theExpertise Alliance for Democratic Governance, stated, “The total number ofvoters who have reached the age of eighteen is 3,798,360. Meanwhile, the numberof biometric registered voters is 2,899,578, distributed as follows: 2,683,618for general voting and 215,960 for special voting, which will take place on the18th of October, including members of the security forces, even those locatedoutside the Kurdistan Region."
The total number of candidates hasreached 1,191, competing for 100 seats in the Kurdistan Parliament, distributedas follows: 38 seats for Al-Sulaymaniyah governorate, 34 for Erbil, 25 forHalabja, and 3 seats divided among 823 males and 368 females. The number ofcandidates from alliances is 123, while party candidates total 946, along with119 independent candidates for the general seats and the Christian and Turkmenquotas.
“The candidacy for the componentseats is individual, with 38 candidates for the component quota seats. Thereare 20 individual candidates for the Turkmen two seats and 18 individualcandidates for the three Christian seats,” Al-Rudaini confirmed.
“There are four electoral districts,and voters must exclusively carry a biometric card.” He noted. The proportionalrepresentation system will be applied in the elections according to a semi-openlist, with vacant seats distributed after the initial distribution processbased on the strongest remainder method for all lists and individualcandidates, regardless of whether they obtained seats in that initial process.The simple majority system will apply to the component seats."
Moreover, Al-Rudaini observed that “politicalparties in the Region have employed various means of defamation, distortion,threats, and accusations during their election campaigns, which began on the25th of September, along with the excessive distribution of candidate photos,particularly on sidewalks and public roads.”
"I call on political parties,candidates, and media outlets to abandon this tense electoral discourse andwork to create a calm environment in the Region to ensure free and peacefulelections, especially amid the current regional tensions,” he concluded.