Abdulbasit Darwesh, the media head of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Kirkuk, told Rudaw’s Hastyar Qadir that the boxes contain around 20,000 ballots cast, adding that only two of the boxes are from the general elections while the remaining 110 are from the early voting period.
Jumana al-Ghalai, the spokesperson of the IHEC, said on Wednesday that the commission will conduct a manual count for the votes of over 1,000 polling stations that failed to send the data within its specified period, adding that final results will be announced soon after the count has concluded.
Iraqis across 15 provinces, excluding Kurdistan Region provinces, headed towards the polling stations on Monday to cast their votes in the country’s first provincial council elections in over a decade.
A total of 6,599,668 ballots were cast across Iraq during Saturday’s early vote and Monday’s general elections, accounting for a 41 percent turnout.
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.
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.
