SULAIMANI — The voting process for Iraq’s early parliamentary elections kicked off on Friday (October 8) with more than a million members of the security forces, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and other eligible groups participating in special voting.

The bulk of Iraqi voters will turn out on Sunday, but the special voting day ensures access for groups that either have work responsibilities on election day or face other hurdles to voting.

An estimated 1.5 million people are eligible to vote on Friday at 2,548 polling stations across the country.

Iraq is holding parliamentary elections seven months early in response to the demands of the protesters who began demonstrating in October 2019 to demand changes to the country’s governance system.

It is the first election to be held under a new electoral law, which divided the country up into 83 multi-member districts and uses single non-transferable vote.

Overall, observers are predicting low turnout in the election, though the security forces are generally a more reliable demographic, particularly in the Kurdistan Region where the Peshmerga, police, and Asayish are closely tied to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

(NRT Digital Media)