In a press conference held in Erbil, the commission’s spokesman Aysar Yassin said that the participation rate as of 12:00 pm was to 77% in Duhok, 70% in Erbil, 67% in Sulaimani, and 64% in Halabja.
Earlier today, the IHEC in Kirkuk announced the participation of 488 officers and personnel from the Iraqi Ministries of Defense and Interior, as well as members of the Peshmerga, in the special voting for the Kurdistan Region Parliament elections.
IHEC opened polling stations for Peshmerga forces and internal security personnel to cast their votes at 7:00 am in 165 polling stations and will conclude at 6:00 pm.
A total of 1,091 candidates from both genders are competing for 100 seats in the Region, 5 of which are reserved for minority groups, reduced from 11 seats by a decision from the Federal Supreme Court (the highest judicial authority in Iraq).
The number of seats allocated for women, according to the election law, must be at least 30.
The total number of voters is 2,899,578, of whom 215,960 are eligible to vote in the special election. The remaining 2,683,618 voters will participate in the general election next Sunday.
The legislative elections in the Kurdistan Region have been postponed four times over the past two years due to political disputes, having originally been scheduled for 2022.