UN mission for Iraq says it has not reported electoral 'irregularities'
"We have seen media reports that a UN monitor complained to Independent High Electoral Commission about electoral irregularities today. That is categorically false."
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq rejected news stories claiming UN monitors had reported "electoral irregularities" to Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) as during Friday's early voting.
Members of Iraqi security forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga, inmates, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) took to polling stations Friday morning to cast their ballots in a “special vote,” two days ahead of the general election.
Read More: Iraq Election 2021: Special voting begins across country
UNAMI said in a tweet that "we have seen media reports that a UN monitor complained to Independent High Electoral Commission about electoral irregularities today. That is categorically false."
“If UN monitors see anything of concern, they will report that to the UN,” the tweet concluded.
The special vote for about 1.2 million voters from security personnel, prison inmates, and displaced persons in camps across the country began at 07:00 local time, as Polling stations across the country opened, and will be closed at 18:00.
There are nearly 800 international observers monitoring Iraq’s fifth election since the end of Iraq’s Ba’athist regime in 2003.
According to IHEC figures on Thursday, 1,075,727 security personnel, 120,126 internally displaced persons, and 676 inmates in prisons were eligible to vote.