Special Voting Concludes in Kurdistan Region

Kurdistan 06:01 PM - 2024-10-18

Voting at a polling station.

Special voting concluded on Friday evening in all four constituencies of the Kurdistan Region: Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok, and Halabja and the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced that voting turnout was 97%.

Polling stations for special voting commenced operations for voters in the Kurdistan Region on Friday, October 18, 2024, at 7 am (local time) and completed after 11 hours at 6 pm (local time), at which the voting machines stopped functioning and the special voting period ended.

"Out of 215,960 special voters, 208,521 voters cast their ballots, which is 97%," Jumana al-Ghalai, spokesperson for the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told PUKMEDIA.

"1,926 local and international observers and 3,750 party representatives observed the special voting process," Ghalai said.

"Of the total number of special voters, 203,773 were male and 4,748 were female," she added.

"The voting turnout in Erbil was 97%, in Sulaymaniyah 97%, in Duhok 98% and in Halabja 96%," she said.

There were 165 polling centres designated solely for special voting in the Kurdistan Region, including 62 centres in Erbil, 57 in Sulaymaniyah, 33 in Duhok, and one in Halabja. In total, there were 749 special polling stations across all four constituencies, comprising 306 stations in Erbil, 276 in Sulaymaniyah, 142 in Duhok, and 3 in Halabja.

In addition to the four provinces of the Kurdistan Region, polling stations were also set up in Kirkuk, Baghdad, Salahaddin, Nineveh, Diyala, Wasit, and Anbar for the special voting of the sixth term of the Kurdistan Parliament.

A total of 251,700 ballots were printed for the special voting process, including 136 electoral lists featuring 1,191 candidates, of which 368 are female. There are also 84 independent candidates for general seats, 20 for Turkmen seats, and 18 for Christian seats.

After six years, the elections for the sixth term of the Kurdistan Parliament are set to take place on October 20, 2024. Today, October 18, special voting will be conducted for the same purpose.



PUKMEDIA