Vibrant voters’ engagement across polling stations in Kurdistan Region
Shafaq News/ A large number of voters began to flock topolling stations across all cities of the Kurdistan Region, as theparliamentary elections reached their peak.
Shafaq News correspondent said that polling stations inErbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, have witnessed a turnout ofelectors since the opening of ballot boxes in the early morning hours, despitesome technical issues reported at certain stations.
Kamran, a voter in Erbil, told Shafaq News that “the votingprocess is going well and very smoothly, it takes only a few minutes to casteach vote,” expressing his hope that citizens will participate actively in theelections to give confidence to the right party and change for the better.
For his part, Ardalan, another Kurdish voter, told ShafaqNews, “Participation in the elections is important. I hope that citizens do notabstain from voting, as the hopes of the Kurdish people are focused on the nextgovernment's ability to solve issues, particularly economic challenges such assalaries, which have negatively and directly affected citizens.”
The scene in Erbil was mirrored across the Kurdistan Region,with provinces like Duhok, Halabja, and Al-Sulaymaniyah witnessing strongparticipation at polling stations.
The total number of electors in the Kurdistan Region is2,899,578. Among them, 215,960 are eligible to vote in the special ballot,while the remaining 2,683,618 voters will vote in the general ballot on Sunday.
Voting for the sixth round of the Kurdistan Parliamentelections began on Sunday, following the completion of the special votingprocess for military and security forces two days ago.
The Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq (IHEC)opened 1,622 polling stations at 07:00 a.m. for eligible residents across theRegion, with a total of 2,683,618 eligible voters out of 2,899,578 registeredvoters.
On Friday, the commission reported that 97% of the 215,960eligible Peshmerga and internal security forces had participated in the specialvoting. It also confirmed that the voting process proceeded smoothly, with nomajor violations reported.
A total of 1,091 candidates from both genders are competingfor 100 seats in the Kurdistan Parliament, five of which are reserved forminority groups. This number has been reduced from 11 seats following adecision by the Federal Supreme Court, Iraq's highest judicial authority.
