Shafaq News/ The Independent High Electoral Commission(IHEC) office in Duhok announced on Tuesday the commencement of manual votecounting for several polling centers that failed to submit their results ontime due to technical difficulties.
Khalid Abbas, Director of the IHEC office in Duhok, statedthat “seven polling stations in the province experienced delays in reportingtheir outcomes. Results from three voting centers will undergo manual countingtoday, while the results from four stations have already been shared with therelevant political entities.
“Once the manual counting is completed, the votes countswill be incorporated into the final tally for the Kurdistan Parliamentelections.” Abbas further noted.
According to the IHEC Director, these votes total will notimpact the preliminary results revealed by the commission on Monday. “Thepurpose of manual counting is to ensure transparency and verification of theelection outcome, thereby upholding the integrity of the electoral process.”
Earlier today, the IHEC unveiled the preliminary tally ofthe Kurdistan Region's parliamentary elections, noting that the voter turnoutreached 72%, with 99.63% of the votes counted.
During a press conference, the commission’s head, Judge OmarAhmed, confirmed that the Kurdistan Parliament elections were conducted in a"secure and fair environment" and that the preliminary results are"not subject to appeal."
Voting for the sixth round of the Kurdistan Parliamentelections commenced on Sunday following the completion of the special votingfor military and security forces.
A total of 1,091 candidates from both genders competed for100 seats in the Kurdistan Parliament, five of which are reserved for minoritygroups.