Voting system ‘automatically’ shuts down at 6 p.m. — IHEC

Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Ali Qader, the head of Iraqi High Election Commission in Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw that there can be no voting extension.

"There will be no extension of voting hours as electoral devices will automatically turn off at 6 p.m.,” he said.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. Weak turnout has been reported in the Kurdistan Region and in Baghdad.

The new voting system consists of three devices: a biometric voter verification device via thumbprint and voter ID card checks, a ballot scanner, and a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) that transmits vote counts to a satellite, which then relays preliminary results to IHEC’s headquarters in Baghdad.

These are the first elections which Iraq has used the ballot scanner and satellite transmission systems.

“My brother-in-law just came back from polling station with clean fingers. The matching device could not read any of his ten finger prints despite having gone through biometric enrollment...” tweeted Hiwa Afandi, the head of the KRG Department of Information Technology.

 

Afandi's Twitter description disclaims: "Tweets & RTs are not necessarily endorsements or KRG's views."

 

Kurdish and Iraqi politicians have encouraged their constituents to get out and vote, despite any technical problems.

Memory cards from each voting center in Iraq will be taken to Baghdad 6-8 hours after polls close at 6 p.m.. Preliminary, unofficial results will be available 24-48 hours after they vote, the commission has said.

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10:26 a.m.


Election body weighs extending voting hours amid technical issues

 

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Many polling stations across the Kurdistan Region have not yet been opened due to technical faults in the electoral devices, and the local head of the election commission said voting hours could be extended "if needed."


Shams Net, the organization hired by the Iraqi High Electoral Commission to implement the new voting system, announced that three polling stations have not been opened in Duhok and Sheikhan.

Badal Abdulbaqi, the head of the organization, told Rudaw that voting stations Znar and Nissan in Duhok and one at a refugee camp in Sheikhan town in Nineveh province have not been opened.

He said the electronic devices had not arrived at the polling stations yet.

Rudaw's reporter in Zakho reported 11 polling stations have not been opened yet.
 
A Rudaw reporter in Soran said seven stations there haven't yet opened.

At Kurazhar polling station in Shiladze in Duhok province near Amedi, doors did not open.

Mazin Abdulqadir, the head of the Iraqi election commission in the Kurdistan Region, said the problems are not difficult to solve.

“In general, we have not faced big problems. In any station where the devices have technical issues, we have sent extra devices, or we have sent maintenance teams to fix them,” Abdulqadir, told Rudaw. 

“There have been long delays at any polling station. If needed, we could extend the voting hours,” he added.

Voting began at 7 a.m. and Iraqi officials have said they will not extend the voting hours past 6 p.m.

 

LIVE: Polls open in Iraq's 2018 parliamentary elections