Erbil grants two-hour leave for private sector employees on general election day

Shafaq News/ On Saturday, Erbil province, the capital of the Kurdistan Region (KRI), directed all companies and business owners in the private sector to grant temporary leave to employees on general election day, scheduled for Sunday.

The province stated, "On general election day, recognizing that voting is a right for everyone, it has been decided to instruct private sector companies and business owners to grant their employees a temporary leave of two hours to exercise their right to participate in the elections."

"On election day, all streets and checkpoints within Erbil will remain open," it added.

On Friday, the Kurdistan Regional Government announced the suspension of official working hours for Saturday and Sunday in conjunction with the sixth round of the Kurdistan Parliament elections.

A total of 1,091 candidates, including men and women, are competing for 100 seats in the regional parliament, five of which are reserved for minority communities as part of a quota system.

According to the election law, at least 30 seats must be allocated to women.

The Kurdistan Region has 2,899,578 registered voters, of whom 215,960 were eligible to participate in the special vote. The remaining 2,683,618 voters will cast their ballots in the general election.