Nearly quarter of eligible voters cannot vote in Kurdistan elections

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Twenty-three percent of eligible voters in the Kurdistan Region will not be able to cast ballots in the upcoming parliamentary election due to the lack of voter registration cards, with the Iraqi electoral body stating on Tuesday that registration for the cards has already closed.
 
“Those who have not already obtained their voter registration cards will not be able to do so now. The [electoral] commission has halted issuing new cards,” Jumana al-Ghalai, the spokesperson for the Iraqi High Electoral Commission (IHEC) told Rudaw.

There are an estimated 6.3 million residents in the Kurdistan Region, with nearly 3.7 million eligible to vote, according to data from the Kurdistan Region’s statistics board.
 
Out of those eligible to vote, “about 2.9 million are registered to vote,” according to Ghalai, leaving nearly 800,000 eligible voters unable to participate in the upcoming election.

“The commission will have to once again resume voter registration and issue registration cards for those who do not have the cards, but it is not known when. But after the elections, that [new registrations] will resume,” Ghalai said.

A total of 1,191 candidates are vying for the 100-seat Kurdistan parliament, according to IHEC. That number includes 823 men, 368 women, and 38 candidates from minority communities.

There will be 1,400 polling stations, including locations in the disputed areas and most Iraqi provinces, for eligible voters.

Early voting for security forces and internally displaced persons (IDPs) is scheduled for October 18, while the general vote will take place on October 20. About 215,000 people are anticipated to participate in the early voting.

The electoral process has faced numerous challenges, with interference from Baghdad exacerbating tensions between the Kurdistan Region’s political parties, particularly between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). 

The Kurdistan Region last held elections in 2018. The upcoming elections were initially scheduled for 2022 but have been delayed several times.