Iraq rules out curfew on election day
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Iraq will not impose any curfew or road closures during the November 11 parliamentary elections unless necessary, an Iraqi official said on Sunday.
Qais al-Muhammadi, head of the National Election Security Committee, told Shafaq News that inter-provincial movement, air travel, and border crossings will remain open. He said forces are on the highest alert and “fully prepared to protect the capital and polling stations nationwide.”
Al-Muhammadi added that each polling center will be secured by three perimeter layers, each with specific duties, while forces are prohibited from entering voting stations, pointing out that vote counting will be conducted manually and monitored by three cameras at each station to ensure transparency.
Addressing coordination with the Kurdistan Region, al-Muhammadi affirmed that units stationed in the Region are responsible for protecting polling centers, indicating that joint forces are securing overlapping electoral areas of shared concern between Diyala, Kirkuk, and Nineveh provinces and neighboring Kurdish territories.
Iraq has heightened security nationwide ahead of the elections, placing all forces on Level C alert — the highest state of readiness — to ensure a safe voting process. The High Security Committee for Elections has banned mobile phones inside polling stations, prohibited drones, and restricted heavy truck and motorcycle movement near voting centers, while confirming that election day will be a national holiday.
According to the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), Iraq has 21.4 million registered voters out of nearly 30 million eligible citizens, with more than 7,700 candidates competing for 329 parliamentary seats.
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