Baghdad, Erbil agree on security plan for local elections
Shafaq News/ Iraq's High Security Committee for Elections and the Kurdish Regional Government's security forces have agreed on a joint security plan to protect polling stations and ensure smooth voting in the three Iraqi governorates bordering the region: Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Diyala.
A delegation from the committee and the Independent High Electoral Commission visited Erbil on Sunday and met with Kurdistan Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed to discuss the special voting of the displaced people and the movement of citizens between the two regions and the three governorates during the general election.
"We reached an agreement to put in place a joint security plan for the transportation of journalists, reporters, and some voters to the three governorates," said Maj. Gen. Tahsin al-Khafaji, head of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service and a member of the committee, at a press conference after the meeting.
For his part, Maj. Gen. Tariq Ahmed, director general of the police directorate in the Kurdistan region, said at the press conference: "The Kurdistan region is not included in the provincial elections, but the neighboring provinces - Nineveh, Kirkuk, and Diyala - are very important to us. The displaced people in the cities of the Kurdistan region will also cast their votes on the special voting day in the cities where they are located."
He added that joint federal-regional forces will be responsible for protecting polling stations in the areas covered by Article 140 of the constitution in the governorates of Nineveh, Kirkuk, and Diyala, in coordination with the security forces in the governorates of Duhok, Erbil, and Sulaymaniyah.
For his part, Maj. Gen. Abdul Khaliq Talat, the Kurdistan region's representative in the Joint Operations Command, said at the same conference that the most important issue discussed at this meeting was the issue of checkpoints. He said that Kurdish citizens who travel to Mosul, Kirkuk, or Diyala to cast their votes can travel easily with their voter cards because there will be no travel ban between cities.
