ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s electoral body has completed the preparations for the Kurdistan Region’s elections, a spokesperson for the commission said on Sunday, as voting machines were delivered to the body’s provincial branches. “One hundred percent of the voting equipment for the process has arrived at the commission’s offices in the Kurdistan Region. Now, only testing the equipment remains,” Aisar Yassin, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told Rudaw. “We are 100 percent ready for elections,” he said. If there are malfunctions to avoid interruptions, Yassin detailed that every polling center is equipped with backup voting machines. The Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections which have been delayed multiple times are scheduled for October 20. With the utilization of the voting machines for the first time in the Region’s parliamentary elections, preliminary results are expected to be announced within 24 hours. Imad Jamil, spokesperson for Iraq’s Independent Electoral High Commission, told Rudaw on Friday that preliminary results will be announced on October 21. Some 1,191 candidates are vying for the 100-seat Kurdistan parliament - 823 men, 368 women, including 38 candidates for five minority-quota seats. There will be 1,400 polling stations, including locations in the disputed areas and most Iraqi provinces.
