Weekly Statement
- The Board of Commissioners is holding successive sessions to follow up on the completion of the stages of the electoral process.
- Preparations for the Iraqi-Kurdistan Regional Parliament Election is on discussion table between the (BoC) and a delegation from the Presidency of Kurdistan Region office.
- Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Iraq briefed on the course of work for the next phase.
- The head of the electoral administration periodically monitors the progress of work in the (GEOs).
- Determining the ceiling on electoral spending for candidates comes into effect.
- IHEC… Central and sub-committees are monitoring the implementation of the candidates’ media campaign.
Weekly Statement
The Board of Commissioners of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has been holding its special sessions during weeks day on November; to discuss number of decisions, which included :- ratification of the operational schedule for the Parliamentary elections for the Kurdistan region of Iraq 2024, ratification of seats’ distribution system for the of Non- regional Governorates councils election of 2023, applying replacement system for women’s quota, in the event that one seat remains allocated to the women’s quota, as well as organizational aspects of the electoral process.
The Board of Commissioners, represented by its Chairman, members and the Chief executive officer (CEO), discussed with a delegation headed by the Chief of Staff of the Kurdistan Regional Government in the presence of the International Electoral Assistance Team, the preparations of (IHEC) and the paragraphs of the operational schedule for holding the elections of the Parliamentary elections for the Kurdistan region of Iraq on 25th February 2024, providing full support for the assignment of the work of the Electoral Commission for the purpose of conducting it in accordance with international standards.
The Chairman of the Board of Commissioners and members met with a delegation from the International Electoral Assistance Office (UNAMI) headed by the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Iraq for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance, Mr. (Claudio Cordone), to brief him on the stages of work as they are one of the international bodies supporting the democratic process in Iraq. The head of the delegation stressed on the interest of the International Electoral Assistance Office to provide sufficient assistance and support for the success of the upcoming Non- regional Governorates councils election of 2023 on 18th December 2023.
Within series of field visits to (GEOs), the (CEO) Judge (Abbas Al-Fatlawi), and his accompanying delegation inspected the Baghdad / Rusafa. Also the financial and administrative assistant of the (CEO) Mr. (Ali Saleh Jaafar), has visited Erbil Governorate Office , to follow up on the preparation pf the electoral office for the Non- regional Governorates councils election of 2023 on 18th December 2023, and the Parliamentary elections for the Kurdistan region of Iraq on 25th February 2024 , and to provide the administrative and technical need of the office, emphasizing on the necessity of distributing the existing voters cards in the office by mobile teams and RCs (registration Centers). As a plan was set for this purpose in several places, including government’s institution and universities, in addition to the residence address to facilitate procedures for all segments.
According to the law, the Board of Commissioners approved the instructions for electoral expenditure, according to Article (23) of the amended Governorate Council Elections Law for the year 2023, which stipulated that “(IHEC) is adhered to issuing instructions specifying the maximum limit for expenditure in electoral campaigns“. (IHEC) has held workshop (electoral expenditure) through the Department of Political Parties and Organizations Affairs, as this is the first experience in determining the maximum limits for expenditure on electoral campaigns. work was carried out under the supervision of the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Judge (Fayyad Yassin) and the Director General of the Department of Political Parties and Organizations, Dr. (Heyman Tahseen), to train number of employees. the workshop included basic axes to set a maximum limit for electoral expenditure for alliances, political parties and the individual candidate, (IHEC) also began to form committees to monitor the electoral campaigns to estimate expenditure limits not to exceed the expenditure limit set stipulated in the instruction issued by IHEC, in order to achieve the electoral justice.
As (IHEC) is taking care of guaranteeing women’s rights as (voters and candidates), It works diligently to ensure that women have an active role in all activities concerned with women, through the Women’s Empowerment Team in (IHEC), as member of the Board of Commissioners and head of the team, Dr. Ahlam Al-Jabri, participated in the workshop of (Governorate Council Elections /2023 and the Political Empowerment of Iraqi Women in elections); done by the National Security Advisory in cooperation with the Iraqi Council of Representatives and Al-Nahrain Center for Strategic Studies. Dr. Al-Jabri stressed on the necessity of electoral awareness of the importance of women’s participation in elections.
The (IHEC) also held educational workshops on voting procedures through its competent departments, including voting procedures for public and special voting in several official institutions and departments, as well as communicating with local organizations to expand electoral awareness and education to participate in the upcoming local elections.
In conjunction with the beginning of the media campaign for the candidates, (IHEC) has set a working mechanism to observe its implementation under disciplines and instructions, and formed a central committee for this purpose, from which subcommittees emerged in governorates which will work in coordination with the Municipality of Baghdad and its departments, and with Media and Communications Commission. The committees began implementing their job in preventing Violations and in accordance with the law.
On the technical level, the first batch of biometric voters’ cards has arrived, and the (IHEC) will begin the distribution process starting from 11/11/2023 in the governorates of (Baghdad, Al-Karkh / Rusafa, Nineveh, Kirkuk, Diyala, Anbar, Babil) and call voters to receive their cards from
(RCs) Registration centers near their place of residence, which will be open for them throughout the week.