Politics

Provincial election results to be announced Tuesday, says commission

Iraqis on early Monday headed to the voting centers to cast their ballots in the provincial election, the first in a decade.

Kurdistan 24 2023/12/18 13:57

Iraqi High Election Commission staff meet in the election hall for the first provincial council elections in a decade, at a polling station in Sadr City in the capital Baghdad, Dec. 18, 2023. (Photo: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP)

Iraq IHEC Provincial election Iraq

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The results of the Iraqi provincial election will be announced on Tuesday, 24 hours following the closure of polling centers, according to the electoral commission.

The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) will announce the “preliminary results” by Tuesday, Imad Jamil, the commission’s spokesperson, told Iraq News Agency.

The final results will be announced after the verification of all the votes, he added, without elaborating further on a specific date.

Iraqis on early Monday headed to the voting centers to cast their ballots in the provincial election, the first in a decade.

The members of security forces and internally displaced persons (IDPs) voted in the early voting period on Saturday. The turnout was 67 percent, according to the commission.

The electronic devices on Saturday experienced several “technical errors”, leading to delays in the process, and in some cases, voters could not even vote.

Regarding the issue, the IHEC official said, the issue will be decided on following the election day.

The Iraqi electoral commission officers in Baghdad did not allow the Iraqi Minister of Interior Abdul Amir al-Shammari to vote in a general provincial election that began on early Monday as his turn to vote was on Saturday’s early voting period, according to media reports.

Over 16 million Iraqis across 15 provinces are eligible to participate in the 2023 provincial elections. The election is the first of its kind in a decade. The last provincial election was held on April 20, 2013. In the case of Kirkuk, the oil-rich province conducted its last provincial election in 2005.

A few million voters are not able to vote as they have not renewed their voter registration card which makes them eligible to vote in the election.

Thousands of candidates, as part of 68 parties, coalitions, and alliances, are vying for 275 seats at the provincial councils with an additional 10 more seats for minorities.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) does not monitor the elections, as the Iraqi government did not request the UN to supervise the polls.