Shafaq News/ The Independent High Electoral Commission(IHEC) of Iraq on Tuesday announced the opening and closing times for pollingstations for the upcoming Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections.
In a statement, the commission reminded alliances, parties,candidates, their representatives, voters, observers, and the media thatpolling stations for the 2024 Kurdistan Parliament elections will open at 7:00am and close at 6:00 pm.
“The special voting will take place on Friday, October 18,2024, while the general voting is scheduled for Sunday, October 20, 2024.”
The commission affirmed that no extensions to polling hourswill be granted, as the opening and closing of the stations will be conductedelectronically.
It also confirmed that “voting will be permitted only withbiometric voter cards.”
Additionally, under the decision of the Higher SecurityCommittee, mobile phones and cameras will be prohibited inside pollingstations, except for media-designated centers.
It is noteworthy that in June, President Barzani issued aRegional decree setting October 20, 2024, as the official date for theKurdistan parliamentary elections.
The October vote is expected to elect 100 new lawmakersrepresenting the governorates of Iraqi Kurdistan: Erbil (34 seats, includingone for Christians and one for Turkmen), Halabja (three seats), Al-Sulaymaniyah(38 seats, including one for Christians and one for Turkmen), and Duhok (25seats, including one for Christians).
According to the Electoral Commission, a total of 1,190candidates are running in the upcoming elections. These candidates aredistributed across two coalitions, 13 parties, and include 85 independents,alongside 39 candidates representing minority groups, forming a total of 139electoral lists.
The overall number of eligible voters amounts to 2,899,878.Of this total, 2,683,618 are registered for general voting, while 215,960 arelisted for special voting.