Karbala gears up for the early elections

Shafaq News/ More than 85% of Karabal's voters have received their electoral IDs, an official of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said on Thursday.

"Monitoring the electoral process in the governorate is underway," media official in IHEC's office in Karbala, Abdul Razak al-Asadi, told Shafaq News Agency, "we spare no effort to maintain control over the entire operations."

Al-Asadi said, "114 officials, 47 males and 32 females, are competing in three electoral districts."

"Electoral ID distribution rate is more than 85%, with 487,073 IDs handed over so far. Undistributed cards are less 80,000."

Anti-government demonstrators took to the streets by the tens of thousands last year to demand political change and an end to rampant corruption and poor services in the country. More than 500 people were killed in the protests as security forces used live rounds and tear gas to disperse crowds.

Last July, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi announced that early elections would be held to meet their demands. But Iraq’s Cabinet voted in January to postpone the balloting for four months, until October, after the electoral commission sought the delay for technical reasons.

The elections, scheduled for Oct. 10, will decide the 328 members of the Council of Representatives, who in turn elect the president and prime minister.