Polls close in Iraq's Provincial Elections amid low turnout

Shafaq News/ On Monday, the Election Commission closed the polls for the provincial and district council elections in 15 governorates.

The Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Judge Omar Ahmed, reported a 17% voting participation rate as of midday.

Several governorates, including Baghdad, Diyala, Babel, Karbala, Dhi Qar, Diwaniyah, Muthanna, and Al-Anbar, recorded relatively low participation rates in the general vote.

The special voting process for members of the security forces, displaced persons, and prison inmates concluded on Saturday with a 67% participation rate.

Earlier today, Judge Ahmed confirmed that the election proceeded smoothly.

Iraqis participated in the first provincial council elections in a decade on Monday, with over 16 million registered voters.

The turnout was lower than the 2021 parliamentary polls, with 22 million eligible voters.

The local elections were delayed due to the war against ISIS—pro-Iranian forces, mainly the Coordination Framework, are expected to dominate local councils, consolidating Shiite alliance power.

The popular Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr boycotted the elections, saying that the results would "reinforce corruption within the political class."

The Shiite alliance members run on multiple lists, planning to rule collectively post-election. In addition, the two influential Sunni leaders, Mohammed Halbousi and Khamis Khanjar, formed a joint alliance in the elections.