Special Voting kicks off as IHEC unveils 165 polling stations across Kurdistan

Erbil – INA

The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced on Friday the opening of 165 polling stations for special voting in the Kurdistan Parliament elections.

Emad Jamil, head of IHEC media team, informed the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that "the number of polling stations designated for special voting has reached 165, encompassing 749 stations that will accommodate 215,960 voters from the security forces."

Jamil stated that "voting commenced at 7:00 AM and will conclude at 6:00 PM." He added, "After the voting period ends at 6:00 PM, electronic devices will be deactivated, including those used for voter verification and counting. Following this, the electronic counting and sorting processes will proceed rapidly. Results will be announced through reports provided to monitors at each polling station, after which they will be transmitted electronically to the data entry center in Baghdad. Manual counting will then begin to match the results with the electronic counts."

Regarding complaints, Jamil confirmed that "IHEC has developed a specialized form for submitting complaints at polling stations, categorizing them into red, green, and yellow complaints, while standard complaints will remain uncategorized." 

He noted that "IHEC has previously recorded several complaints related to media campaigns, totaling 43, of which 16 have been resolved, with the remaining cases to be addressed in due course."

He emphasized that "the voting process is proceeding smoothly, with a high level of discipline among the security forces involved, facilitated by effective coordination with IHEC ."