KDP leads in early tally of votes from Iraqi IDP camps in Kurdistan

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq's electoral commission on Wednesday completed its tally of votes cast by those living in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in the Kurdistan Region with the vast majority going to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Included in the count were the Khazir, Hassan Sham, and Dibaga camps.

According to data Kurdistan 24 obtained from the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), the results are as following:

Khazir Camp:

• KDP (led by Masoud Barzani): 986 votes.
• Ninewa Hawituna (led by Mohammed Iqbal): 86 votes
• Al-Nasr [Victory] (led by Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi): 79 votes
• Al-Fatih (led by Shia Militia Commander Hadi al-Amiri): 21 votes
• Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [PUK] (led by Kosrat Rasul): 7 votes
• Kurdistan Islamic Group [KIG] (led by Ali Bapir): 1 vote
• State of Law Coalition (led by Nouri al-Maliki): 1 vote

Hassan Sham U2 Camp:

• KDP: 676 votes
• Ninewa Hawiyatuna: 88 votes
• Al-Nasr: 70 votes
• Al-Fatih: 54 votes
• PUK: 25 votes
• Coalition for Democracy and Justice [CDJ] (led by Barham Salih): 4 votes
• KIG: 2 votes
• State of Law Coalition: 2 votes

Hassan Sham U3 Camp:

• KDP: 770 votes
• Ninewa Hawiyatuna: 117 votes
• Al-Nasr: 47 votes
• PUK: 38 votes
• Al-Fatih: 7 votes
• CDJ: 4 votes
• KIG: 1 vote

Dibaga 1 Camp:

• KDP: 660 votes
• Ninewa Hawiyatuna: 78 votes
• Al-Fatih: 77 votes
• PUK: 23 votes
• Al-Nasr: 9 votes
• KIG: 2 votes

Dibaga 2 Camp:

• KDP: 692 votes
• Ninewa Hawiyatuna: 45 votes
• Al-Nasr: 10 votes
• PUK: 7 votes

Dibaga 3 Camp:

• KDP: 147 votes
• Ninewa Hawiyatuna: 25 votes
• Al-Nasr: 5 votes
• PUK: 1 vote
• Al-Fatih: 1 vote

In the three camps, of the 6,322 people eligible to vote, 4,299 of them cast ballots. Of these, 3,942 of them voted for the KDP.

Votes from other IDP camps in the Kurdistan Region have yet to be counted by IHEC.

On Saturday, people across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region took part in national legislative elections, the first since the defeat of the Islamic State (IS). Polls opened at 7:00 a.m. and closed at 6:00 p.m.

On the regional level, the KDP was leading the polls in the Kurdistan Region with a large margin followed by the PUK and Gorran (Change).

Turnout stood at 44.5 percent, according to IHEC. It is the lowest voter turnout rate in Iraq in the past 13 years. In the 2014 elections, roughly 60 percent headed to the polls.

Editing by John J. Catherine