More than one million security forces and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are eligible to vote early, including around 48,260 IDPs living in camps in Kurdistan Region. The polls opened at 7 am and will close at 6 pm.
“Tomorrow, our dear members of the armed and security forces will head to the special polling stations to cast their votes," Judge Omar Ahmed, head of the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission, said in a video message on Friday night.
“The Commission has been working, since the enactment of the electoral law and the setting of the election date, to establish a solid foundation for conducting it [the election] so that the outcomes meet the aspirations,” he added.
In a message to the security forces on Saturday morning, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani warned against interference in the vote.
“We reiterate the emphasis on your freedom of choice as you participate in the special voting for the local council elections. No one has the right to dictate to you or interfere with determining your choices and preferences,” he said.
The provincial councils were dissolved in 2019 in response to demands by Tishreen protesters who criticized the system for its failures and for enabling corruption. After several postponements, the election date was set for December 18. The last provincial council vote was held in 2013, excluding Kirkuk.
The election is being monitored by over 3,500 members of civil society organizations.
A coalition of organizations has formed an “operations room” to monitor the early vote on Sunday and the general vote on Monday, Hogr Chato, the head of Shams Monitoring Network, which is a part of the coalition, told Rudaw on Saturday.
The provincial councils were created by the 2005 Iraqi constitution following the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime. They hold significant power, including setting budgets for several key sectors such as education, health, and transport, but are accused of being rife with corruption.
The elections will mark the return of the Sainte-Laguë voting method, a controversial system that uses the single-constituency per province system instead of the multiple-constituency system that was adopted for the 2021 parliamentary elections as part of the demands of the Tishreen protesters.
Campaigning for the elections ended on Friday morning.
Sudani on Friday urged people to get out and vote. “We encourage your active participation in the provincial council elections, a crucial aspect of the democratic administrative system,” he said in a video message.
“Provincial councils play a crucial role in our democratic system, grounded in decentralization, marking a significant phase of administrative transformation in Iraq,” he added.
Muqtada al-Sadr, a firebrand cleric whose political movement won the most seats in parliamentary elections in 2021, is not taking part in this vote and asked his followers to boycott it. He withdrew from politics last year.
