IHEC: we seek to ensure prisoners right to vote

Baghdad- INA
 
The Independence High Elections Commission announced on Sunday, its efforts to guarantee the right of prisoners to vote, confirming that it is discussing with the European Union team the terms of the electoral observation agreement.
IHEC stated in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that Based on Elections Law No. 9 of 2020, Article 9 of the conditions for candidacy for membership in the next parliamentary elections, which includes (that [the candidate] should not be a member of the armed forces or the security institution.... upon his candidacy), indicating that the IHEC excluded a number of military candidates whose names were received from the Ministry of Defense, adding that according to the law , only civilian  employees of  Ministry of Defense, the Counter-Terrorism Service, the Popular Mobilization force, the Peshmerga Forces, the Federal Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Interior of the Region can run for parliamentary elections, while their peers from Iraqi National Intelligence Service, the National Security Advisory, and the Iraqi National Security Agency, National Security , are not allowed.
IHEC also affirmed its keenness to guarantee the right of prisoners to vote as the Board of Commissioners agreed to open polling stations for special voting in  (Sulaymaniyah, Dohuk, Wasit, and Muthanna)  provinces .
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Jalil Adnan Khalaf, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Omar Ahmed Muhammad, and Head of the Electoral Administration Abbas Farhan Hassan, met a delegation of the European Union to discuss the terms of the election observation agreement, which it is hoped to be signed soon between the Iraqi government  and the European Union Mission, affirming the importance  of the agreement in facilitating the mission’s work in observing the upcoming October elections  and its significance in terms of giving  reassurance messages locally and internationally.