“Instead of cleaning the voter registration, which would take a long time, the commission has prepared a new voter registration for the upcoming elections of Kurdistan,” Karwan Jalal, director general of data for Kurdistan Region’s High Independent Referendum and Electoral Commission, told Rudaw.
There are longstanding concerns about the accuracy of the voter list in Kurdistan. Concerns about possible fraud have gained traction as officials prepare for parliamentary elections in September against the backdrop of Iraq’s recent election havoc.
The electoral commission had been conducting a thorough review of the voter list and anticipated removing some 100,000 repeated names or those of the deceased.
The new voter list, based on food ration forms updated on December 31, 2017 by the Ministry of Commerce, is 99 percent complete.
“In the beginning of July, the new voter register will be published and prepared for the upcoming Kurdistan Region elections,” Jalal said.
Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held on September 30.
Electronic voting will not be used after reports of fraud in Iraq’s May 12 vote, the first time Iraq adopted the electronic voting and vote-counting system.
The Iraqi parliament has ordered a full, manual recount of votes to address fraud allegations.
