Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced, on Saturday, its full readiness to conduct the general voting for the Kurdistan Regional Parliament elections, while refuting rumors regarding the secrecy of the ballot process.
In a statement, the Commission denied all rumors suggesting a lack of secrecy for voters in both special and general voting. It emphasized that “every voter’s right to a secret ballot is protected, and that it is impossible to know who a voter has selected, even through the voting machines.”
On Friday, IHEC opened polling stations to receive the votes of Peshmerga forces and internal security personnel as part of the special voting day for the Kurdistan Regional Parliament elections, marking its sixth term.
The voting process began at 165 polling stations at 7:00 a.m. and concluded at 6:00 p.m., following the timetable set by the Commission.
A total of 1,091 candidates, both men and women, are competing for 100 seats in the Kurdistan Parliament. Of these seats, five are reserved for minority quotas, reduced from 11 seats following a ruling by the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq, the country’s highest judicial authority.
According to election law, at least 30 seats must be allocated to women.
The total number of eligible voters in the Kurdistan Region stands at 2,899,578, of which 215,960 were eligible to vote in the special voting. The remaining 2,683,618 voters will cast their ballots in the general election on Sunday.