Iraqi electoral authority fines 15 candidates in Erbil for illegal placement of campaign posters

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s branch of the top Iraqi election authority fine 15 candidates running for October 10 parliamentary elections for hanging their campaign posters on public traffic signs, according to an official.

Each candidate has been fined a million Iraqi dinars (approximately $685) for placing their electoral posters and flayers on public street and traffic signs, Farhad Ass’ad Shetnayi, the head of political office of the Kurdistan Region’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday.

In addition to the redress, the candidates will be warned to remove their offending flyers and banners within three days, otherwise their financial punishments would be higher, Ass’ad Shetnayi added.

The Commission can only fine candidates who break the rules of the electoral campaign, according to the official.

There is a week left for Iraqis to cast their ballots in the country’s fifth parliamentary terms following the toppling of Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. For the 329-seat legislative house, over 3,240 candidates are in the race. They are running either as independent candidates or as part of political coalitions. 

The country is divided into 83 electoral constituencies.

Erbil, the Kurdistan Region’s capital, consists of four electoral constituencies, in which over 1,238,000 voters cast ballots for 15 parliamentary seats that are allocated to the province. As part of the women’s quota, four parliamentary seats will go to female candidates from the Kurdish capital.