Shafaq News/ On Friday, theIndependent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Kirkuk announced theparticipation of 488 officers and personnel from the Iraqi Ministries ofDefense and Interior, as well as members of the Peshmerga, in the specialvoting for the Kurdistan Region Parliament elections.
Ali Abbas Dhiab, the media officialat the IHEC office in Kirkuk, told Shafaq News, "The commission opened thepolling stations in Al-Wathba of Arafa neighborhood to conduct theelections."
Dhiab further affirmed, "Thevoting process is progressing well, with personnel arriving at the center tocast their votes for the candidates in the elections. Everything is runningsmoothly, and there are no technical issues."
"The elections are beingcovered by various media outlets, and the Commission will announce theparticipation rate," he added.
Shirko Hassan, one of theparticipants in the elections in Kirkuk, told our agency, "I participatedin the elections and cast my vote for the candidate I believe deserves torepresent me in the Kurdistan Region Parliament."
"The technical aspects ofreceiving the voting card were good, and there were no issues with the votingprocess," he noted. "We elected who we believe is the best choice forus."
Earlier today, the IHEC openedpolling stations for Peshmerga forces and internal security personnel to casttheir votes, noting that the voting process began at 7:00 AM in 165 pollingstations and will conclude at 6:00 PM, as scheduled by the IHEC.
A total of 1,091 candidates fromboth genders are competing for 100 seats in the Region, 5 of which are reservedfor minority groups, reduced from 11 seats by a decision from the FederalSupreme Court (the highest judicial authority in Iraq).
The number of seats allocated forwomen, according to the election law, must be at least 30.
The total number of voters is2,899,578, of whom 215,960 are eligible to vote in the special election. Theremaining 2,683,618 voters will participate in the general election nextSunday.
The legislative elections in theKurdistan Region have been postponed four times over the past two years due topolitical disputes, having originally been scheduled for 2022.
Since its establishment in the early1990s, the Region has witnessed five parliamentary terms, and this marks thesixth one.