ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than three million ballot papers have been printed as of Sunday and are set to be distributed, along with voting machines, to polling centers across the Kurdistan Region as the campaigning period enters its final days.
Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced it has printed over 3 million ballot papers for the public vote and 251,700 sheets for special voting.
The IHEC also shared its plan to enhance election integrity by installing a total of 22,283 cameras across polling centers: four cameras per polling center - two per polling station rooms within the centers - and four backup cameras.
“All the ballot papers have reached the Kurdistan Region and on October 15 [Tuesday] they will be distributed among the voting machines to the polling centers,” Aisar Yassin, a spokesperson for the IHEC, told Rudaw.
With the utilization of electronic voting machines for the first time in the Region’s parliamentary elections, preliminary results are expected to be announced within 24 hours. Voting centers are equipped with backup devices in the case of malfunction.
Early voting for security forces and internally displaced persons (IDPs) is scheduled for Friday with the general vote on October 20.
Some 1,191 candidates are vying for the 100-seat Kurdistan parliament - 823 men and 368 women, including 38 candidates for five minority-quota seats.
