69% turnout in early voting for Iraq parliamentary polls

Baghdad, Oct 9 (IANS) Iraqi authorities announced the success of the early voting with a 69 per cent turnout ahead of snap parliamentary elections this Sunday.

Judge Jalil Adnan Khalaf, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners at the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), said in a press conference that the participation in Friday's early voting "indicates the beginning of successful legislative elections", reports Xinhua news agency

Khalaf stressed that no irregularities were registered during the early voting, and the results of early voting will be combined with the result of Sunday's snap elections, which will be announced 24 hours after the end of the general polls.

However, an IHEC statement posted on its official website showed that 821,800 voters cast their ballots out of 1,196,524, which is 69 per cent of the early voting voters across the country.

Early voting for Iraq's security forces, prisoners, and displaced people began at 7 a.m. and ended at 6 p.m.

The Iraqi parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for 2022, were advanced in response to months of protests against corruption and a lack of public services.

According to the electoral commission, about 24 million Iraqis are eligible to cast their ballots for 3,249 candidates, running individually and within 167 parties and coalitions, vying for 329 seats in the legislature.