Kurdistan
A man casting his ballot during the Iraqi general vote in a school in deisgnated for as a polling station in Erbil on October 10, 2021. Photo: Bilind T. Abdullah/Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region’s education ministry announced on Thursday a week of school holidays for the parliamentary elections, taking place on October 20. Some polling stations will be located in schools.
“From the 15th of this month until the 21st, all educational institutions, both public and private, including international schools, will be on holiday. Regular classes in all educational institutions will resume on the 22nd of October,” read a statement from the ministry on Facebook.
Nabard Omar, head of the Kurdistan Region's election committee at the Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq, said that they had asked the ministry to declare the holiday.
"We have requested that the schools designated as polling stations be handed over to us because we need a few days to transfer our equipment and materials,” he told Rudaw.
Voting will take place at 1,400 polling stations, including in locations in the disputed areas and most Iraqi provinces.
Omar said that “95 percent of preparations” have been completed.
The long-awaited elections for a new parliament are taking place two years later than required. The vote was delayed multiple times, mainly because of disputes between the political parties. The previous parliament voted to extend its mandate in 2022, but that was ruled unconstitutional by the federal supreme court in May 2023.
A total of 1,191 candidates are vying for the 100-seat Kurdistan parliament, according to the Iraqi High Electoral Commission (IHEC). That number includes 823 men, 368 women, and 38 candidates from minority communities.
Early voting for security forces and internally displaced persons (IDPs) is scheduled for October 18, while the general vote will take place on October 20.
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