“There were two types of issues, one of them was that the [voter registration] card did not contain the fingerprint [data]. This is tolerated up to five percent,” Nabard Omar, the head of Kurdistan’s elections board at Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said in a press conference.
Another issue was the voter registration cards containing fingerprint data but the electronic devices failing to read voters’ fingerprints, according to Omar. In such cases, “they [voters] will not be able to cast a ballot.”
IHEC said that the electronic devices read the fingerprints of 205,620 voters in the early vote, while 2,901 voters' fingerprints could not be read by the devices.
Ninety-seven percent of eligible voters cast a ballot during early voting in the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections, with Duhok province recording the highest turnout, according to data released by the electoral commission.
A total of 61 violations were reported during the special vote by Friday midday, according to election monitors. The violations included campaigning near polling centers and voters bringing mobile phones into booths.
Omar said they have received complaints from political parties and that a complaint box was dedicated for filing complaints in each center.
For early voting, 165 polling centers opened - 153 in the Kurdistan Region and 12 in Iraqi provinces. The IHEC opened centers in Kirkuk, Baghdad, Salahaddin, Nineveh, Wasit, Diyala, and Anbar provinces for security forces on duty outside the Region.
