Over 120 complaints filed in Kurdistan Region parliament vote: Monitor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Election monitors in the Kurdistan Region on Monday reported at least 124 complaints from political parties during the general vote, citing cases of noncompliance with electoral regulations and procedural shortcomings.
 
"From the morning till late in the night, we have recorded 124 complaints from political parties," Hogr Chato, head of the Shams network for monitoring elections, said during a press conference, adding that in many polling centers, monitors observed "campaigning propaganda in various ways."
 
The opening of some of the polling centers was delayed, and voters brought mobile phones into the voting booths in some others, according to Chato, adding that there was "negligence in implementing regulations" at some of the polling centers. 
 
By midday on Friday’s early voting, the Shams network had documented 61 violations, including campaigning near polling centers and voters bringing phones into booths.
 
Muthanna Amin, a Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament, said on Saturday that security forces were pressured to vote for ruling parties and forced to photograph their ballots as proof during the early voting phase, a practice prohibited under the rules of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
 
The US-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Sulaimani-based Foundation for Education and Development (PAY) noted that despite the generally smooth conduct of the elections, there were instances of political parties campaigning beyond the official period, security forces interfering with IHEC procedures, blocking media access in some polling centers, and IHEC's failure to fully enforce regulations and share information about violations with observers.
 
Violations such as the disclosure of voter choices, coercion, vote forging, and attempts by polling center staff to influence votes could incur punishment, including imprisonment under IHEC rules.
 
Taking phones into voting booths violates the electoral commission’s regulations, but several monitors said some stations did not enforce this rule.
 
Polls in the Kurdistan Region opened on Sunday morning for its long-awaited parliamentary elections, two years after its originally scheduled date and with the federal commission supervising the vote.
 
A total of 1,191 candidates contested the 100-seat legislature, downsized from 111 seats following a major Iraqi federal court ruling in February.