‘Popular Mobilization Forces will not be allowed vote on special voting day’: IHEC

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Jalil Adnan Khalaf, Chairman of the Independent High Electoral Commission’s (IHEC) Board of Commissioners, announced on Saturday that Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) paramilitaries will not be allowed to vote on the special voting day. 

“After the meetings we held with the Popular Mobilization Forces, we agreed on having these forces vote on the general voting day, not on the special voting day,” Khalaf said during a joint press conference with Lieutenant-General Abdul Amir Al-Shammari on Saturday. 

The “special voting day” is a term used by IHEC to refer to the day when members of the country’s security forces cast their votes, which is two days before the general voting day when the public casts its votes. Special voting day will take place on October 8, while the general voting day will be on October 10. 

The predominantly Shiite PMF was established in June 2014 to help defend Iraq against the Islamic State (ISIS) after that group infamously conquered Mosul. It has since been made an official part of the Iraqi Security Forces. 

In the same press conference, Amir Al-Shammari, head of the Supreme Electoral Security Committee, said that the Iraqi Security Forces are fully prepared for election day. 

“Starting Saturday, all Iraqi security forces, including defense and interior ministries’ forces, anti-terror forces, and intelligence have been put on high alert status until further notice,” Al-Shammari said. 

“The security forces are authorized to arrest those who violate IHEC regulations and send them to court,” Al-Shammari said. “Phones and weapons are not allowed inside voting centers.” 

Al-Shammari stated that IHEC’s Supreme Electoral Security Committee has the authority to announce curfews across the country if necessary. 

He also declared that the use of drones near polling centers is prohibited.