Shafaq News/ On Friday, the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Kirkuk announced the participation of 488 officers and personnel from the Iraqi Ministries of Defense and Interior, as well as members of the Peshmerga, in the special voting for the Kurdistan Region Parliament elections.

Ali Abbas Dhiab, the media official at the IHEC office in Kirkuk, told Shafaq News, "The commission opened the polling stations in Al-Wathba of Arafa neighborhood to conduct the elections."

Dhiab further affirmed, "The voting process is progressing well, with personnel arriving at the center to cast their votes for the candidates in the elections. Everything is running smoothly, and there are no technical issues."

"The elections are being covered by various media outlets, and the Commission will announce the participation rate," he added.

Shirko Hassan, one of the participants in the elections in Kirkuk, told our agency, "I participated in the elections and cast my vote for the candidate I believe deserves to represent me in the Kurdistan Region Parliament."

"The technical aspects of receiving the voting card were good, and there were no issues with the voting process," he noted. "We elected who we believe is the best choice for us."

Earlier today, the IHEC opened polling stations for Peshmerga forces and internal security personnel to cast their votes, noting that the voting process began at 7:00 AM in 165 polling stations and will conclude at 6:00 PM, as scheduled by the IHEC.

A total of 1,091 candidates from both genders are competing for 100 seats in the Region, 5 of which are reserved for minority groups, reduced from 11 seats by a decision from the Federal Supreme Court (the highest judicial authority in Iraq).

The number of seats allocated for women, according to the election law, must be at least 30.

The total number of voters is 2,899,578, of whom 215,960 are eligible to vote in the special election. The remaining 2,683,618 voters will participate in the general election next Sunday.

The legislative elections in the Kurdistan Region have been postponed four times over the past two years due to political disputes, having originally been scheduled for 2022.

Since its establishment in the early 1990s, the Region has witnessed five parliamentary terms, and this marks the sixth one.