weekly Statement
• The President of the Republic is discussing with the Chairman and members of the Board of Commissioners (BoC) the preparations of the local elections.
• The (BoC)holds regular and extraordinary meetings to organize the electoral process.
• The (IHEC) is communicating with the security committee to maintain the security of the electoral process and voters.
• Today, the 9th of July,2023, the registration centers receive voters to update their data.
weekly Statement
In a meeting with His Excellency the President of the Republic, Dr. Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, on Tuesday, 4th of July 2023, when His Excellency affirmed his support for the democratic process, the need to adhere to the timelines for conducting it, and to put in place the necessary mechanisms to enforce the provisions of the law, and not delay in announcing the results; hence the Board of Commissioners (BoC) determined to holding the non-regional governmental council elections, at the specified date on the (18th of December, 2023) throughout Iraq, with the exception of the governorates of Kurdistan region. the Commission is fully prepared to conduct the election in accordance with international standards.
The Chairman of the Board of Commissioners (BoC) and the members of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) continue to hold their successive meetings, as the (BoC) agreed to start the phase of updating the voter register on (9th /July, until the 7th of August /2023), and the registration centers began to receive voters today (09/07/2023). In addition to the registration centers in the governorates of the region which start registration on the (13thJuly, 2023), similar to the rest of the other governorates, to conduct the process of updating the voter register, provided that this does not include the process of moving and changing to and from the governorates of the region, and this is limited to transportation within one governorate and between the three governorates of the region. Exclusively, this came in their twenty-third regular meeting on the 3rd July, 2023. In their extraordinary meeting held on 26th of June, 2023, the Board of Commissioners approved the instructions of (registration and accreditation of international observers, registration and accreditation of local observers, accreditation of agents of political parties, and accreditation of media professionals). (IHEC) proceeds to accredit procedures starting from the 6th of July 2023. And the instructions of the alliance and merger of political parties No. (4) for the year 2023, and the ratification of the technical specifications for printing the initial voter register, as the Commission, through its specialized technical staff in the Department of Operations and Information Technology, has started updating the biometric registration kit for the electoral governorate offices except for the Kurdistan region, and printing the voter register the first in the electoral offices. In the same session, the Board of Commissioners approved the technical specifications for non-sensitive materials, and the technical specifications for the forms and posters used in the stage of updating the voter register for the 2023 local elections. The council also approved the alliance and merger registration forms in an extraordinary session held on the 5th of July, 2023.
On the other hand, the Chairman and members of the Board of Commissioners met with the Deputy Head of the United Nations Mission and his accompanying delegation, and the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission (UNAMI), to discuss the ongoing preparations for the elections, and ways to enhance cooperation between (IHEC) and (UNAMI),to achieve a successful non-regional governorates council elections scheduled to be held on (18th December,2023). in addition to discuss the Kurdistan Regional Parliament elections’ file.
On the level of electoral security, a member of the Board of Commissioners, Judge Amer Al-Husseini, met with the Supreme Security Committee for Elections, in the presence of the Director General of the Department of Political Parties and Organizations Affairs, DR. Heman Tahsin Hameed, and the security coordination official in the Commission, mechanisms to discuss preserving the security and safety of the electoral process and voters, including electoral governorate offices and registration centers. And its warehouses, audit and polling centers on both private and public days.
With the commencement of the stage of registration of political parties and alliances on the 1st of July, 2023, the Department of Political Parties and Organizations Affairs receives those wishing to participate in the local elections. The number of new parties has reached (15) political parties and (4) new political alliances. the registered parties Since 2015, was (269) parties that have a certificate of foundation, and are allowed to participate in the elections. while the number of registration requests for parties (under founding) has reached to (79) parties. in addition to (42) political alliances registered in the constituency since the parliamentary elections. for the year (2018) and the parliamentary elections for the year (2021).
As for the regulations and instructions issued to accredit candidates for the 2023 the non-regional governmental council elections (GCE) elections, (IHEC) organized a training workshop for a number of specialized employees of the national office and provincial offices to discuss (registration of alliances and parties, eligibility of candidates, rights and obligations of political parties, individual candidate and component seats, review of certification procedures for Lists of candidates, procedures for validating the issuance of academic documents for candidates, and the intersection of the names of supporting voters and persons prevented from nomination). This workshop comes within a series of workshops implemented by (IHEC) for its employees to develop their skills and to cope with all the updated information in the amended Provincial Councils Law No. (4) of 2023.
Today, the 9th of July,2023, and until the 7th of August, 2023, the registration centers will receive voters to update their data in preparation for the non-regional governmental council elections scheduled to be conducted on 18th of December, 2023, to perform any of the update cases included (biometric registration, change, deletion, addition, correction, registration of displaced persons and security forces).
The Commission calls on voters who have short-term cards to visit the nearest registration centers to their place of residence for the purpose of confirming their vital data, which includes the ten fingerprints and a face photo, in order to preserve their right to participate in the elections. Because the biometric card will be the one approved exclusively in the local elections according to the amended electoral law of 2023, which stipulates: – (the voter is registered in the voter register, in accordance with the provisions of the amended electoral law and possesses an updated, long-term biometric electoral card used in voting).