Weekly Statement
• The Board of Commissioners discusses the agenda in its regular session.
• The Chairman of the Board of Commissioners is discussing with the Minister of Commerce, ways to secure the voter registration database.
• The Board of Commissioners addressed communicating with the Mukhtars to expand the scope of biometric work.
• Members of the Board of Commissioners and the Electoral Administration follow up on the work in the field.
• The Board of Commissioners congratulates the Iraqi woman on her birthday.
Weekly Statement
The Chairman and members of the Board of Commissioners (BoC) at the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), held their seventh regular session on 8/3/2023; to discuss agenda topics, including how to follow a mechanism to guarantee the rights of voters to participate in the electoral process; This is done by facilitating the procedures of biometric voter registration through the booking program for electronic registration, which enables mobile teams to know the places of residence of voters to reach them wherever they are. The session also witnessed a discussion of developments in the work of the Department of Political Parties and Organizations’ Affairs in several aspects, including granting founding licenses to parties, changing the name of parties wishing to do so, in addition to the cancellation of the certification of several candidates from previous years under the procedures of The Supreme National Authority for Accountability and Justice Regarding the constitutional rights of voters, the Chairman and members of the Board of Commissioners approved a work plan aimed at expanding the scope of the biometric registration process and distributing biometric cards to voters. This is done by distributing the registration centers’ employees and spreading them to the polling stations, and seeking the help of the district mukhtars in all the governorates; to find out the voters’ addresses.
In line with the biometric project, and to prepare a sober voter register, the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners discussed with the Minister of Commerce; the aspects of cooperation and concerted action through exchanging data and information derived from the intersection of the ration card database and IHEC’s database in a way that serves the public interest, as well as cooperation with the committees of the Ministry of Commerce in charge of updating the electronic ration card information; to facilitate its work in completing its project, and to be provided with the required data under regulations and instructions, in addition to work on linking the data with the Ministries of Health, Interior, Labor and Social Affairs to create an integrated and solid database.
In the context of field follow-up, several members of the Council of Commissioners, the Chief executive officer (CEO), the Secretary-General of the board of commissioners, and both of the technical, and administrative and financial assistants, inspected the electoral governorate offices (GEOs) in Sulaymaniyah, Qadisiyah and Kirkuk, and their registration centers and warehouses, they held successive meetings with the directors of offices, divisions and centers; To follow up on the plans set for biometric registration of all voters in the governorate, and the mechanisms for distributing biometric voters’ cards in cooperation with the stakeholders, supportive institutions and Mukhtars. Also directing them to abide by instructions of the Civil Defense Directorates; to provide a safe work environment; to ensure professional and preventive safety in maintaining equipment and logistical materials in warehouses, as well as following up on compliance with the administrative and financial instructions of the Electoral Commission.
In keeping up with discussing the draft paper of (provincial elections law in the Iraqi Council of Representatives); a member of the (BoC) chaired the meeting of the Legal Committee in IHEC with the presence of the united nations Assistant Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES); to discuss the amendments to the Council of Representatives elections’ law, provincial councils, districts and regions, and to consult on technical and legal aspects under international standards.
On the technical side, the CEO’s Technical assistant for technical Affairs chaired the meeting of the Operations Committee of IHEC. To discuss axes related to the development of the work technically, as well as to follow up the flow of the biometric registration process and the distribution of the biometric voters’ cards.
As to the efforts of the registration center’s employees, about (650,594) voters were registered, including (150,495) voters born in 2004, and (19,454) voters born in 2005. The electoral centers distributed (909,114) biometric cards distributed. And (286,911) cards were distributed for public voting, and (572,030) Cards for special voting, to security and armed forces. About (50,173) cards were distributed to the IDPs and internal migrants. The biometric registration and distribution took place in the presence of (2,145) local observers and (352) political party agents.
All interested in electoral affairs could view the cumulative operational situation of the biometric registration and distribution processes by visiting the official website of IHEC:- (https://ihec.iq/biometric-registration/ ).
While IHEC published names and addresses of registration centers; To facilitate finding the voter’s centers near their place of residence, via the link available on IHEC’s official website:- https://ihec.iq/find-your-polling-center.
For their part, the electoral governorate offices (GEOs) continue to publish explanatory messages that explain IHEC’s procedures regarding biometric registration, inviting previously registered voters, by several local media outlets, to receive their electoral cards in the governorates.
The spokesperson
12th March 2023