Shafaq News/ The special election for provincial councils in Diyala saw a turnout of 78% on Saturday, Diyala's office of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) reported on Saturday.
The commission's media director, Salam Mahdi, said that 45,420 people had participated in the special election, out of a total of 57,404 eligible voters.
Mahdi said that the election proceeded smoothly and without any major security complications. He added that the final results of the election will be announced after the general election, which will be held on Sunday.
He said that 7,404 members of the security forces and al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF) had cast their ballots in 143 polling stations at 44 centers.
IHEC spokesperson, Jumana al-Ghalai, told Shafaq News Agency that special election for provincial councils in Iraq, which is open to members of the security forces, displaced people, and prisoners, saw a turnout of 38% at noon Saturday. She said that the final turnout will be announced in a press conference in the next few hours.
After years of delay, federal Iraq is finally set to hold local elections. These elections will pick new members for the provincial (or governorate) councils, who in turn will select governors and form local governments. It has been more than ten years since these elections were last held on April 20, 2013.
Much has changed in national and local politics since then, making these polls significant in terms of assessing party standings. In fact, three parliamentary elections have taken place since the last provincial vote. The councils were dissolved in October 2019, so local politics are completely out of sync with the national scene.
Some parties did not exist in 2013 but have gained great power over the last few years. Other parties were powerful in 2013, but have almost been wiped out in the intervening years. Added to this, governors have held power with almost no oversight since late 2019, making these elections absolutely necessary for reforming local government.
Official data showed that 16,158,788 registered voters across the fifteen federal governorates will participate in this election cycle, according to the final electoral roll managed by IHEC, the body tasked with conducting elections in Iraq. In the Kurdistan region, 3,641,566 citizens are eligible to vote.Several million adult citizens have failed to update their biometric information, mainly due to apathy, and will not be able to vote.
Voting will take place at 38,040 centers. A total of 6,022 candidates are running, the vast majority of them under the banner of one of 68 parties, coalitions, and electoral alliances approved by IHEC. There are 275 governorate council seats available, with only ten additional quota seats reserved for minorities.