Shafaq News/ Voting in the general election for the Kurdistan Region'ssixth parliamentary cycle began early Sunday, following the completion ofspecial voting for military and security forces on Friday.
The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Iraq opened 1,622polling stations across the Kurdistan Region at 7 a.m. local time, for2,683,618 eligible voters out of 2,899,578 registered voters.
On Friday, the commission announced that 97% of the 215,960 eligiblemilitary personnel and internal security forces had participated in the specialvote. The process was reported to have been smooth and without significantviolations.
1,091 candidates are competing for 100 seats in the Kurdish parliament.Five of these seats are reserved for minority communities, down from 11 after adecision by Iraq's Federal Supreme Court, the nation's highest judicialauthority.
According to the electoral law, at least 30 seats must be allocated towomen.
The race is spread across four provinces: 32 seats in the capital,Erbil, 36 in Al-Sulaymaniyah, 24 in Duhok, and three in Halabja. The five quotaseats for minorities are divided as follows: two in Erbil, two in Sulaymaniyah,and one in Duhok.
The legislative election in Kurdistan has been delayed four times overthe past two years due to political disputes. It was originally scheduled for2022.
Since its establishment in the early 1990s, the Kurdistan Region hasheld five parliamentary terms.