Weekly Statement
The Independent High Electoral Commission in Iraq (IHEC) is intensifying its efforts on women’s political empowerment in order to take an active role in future electoral entitlements, whether as voters or candidates. the commission continues to implement the stages of its strategic plan in this regard through meetings held by the head of the team and its members in the presence of a member of the board of Commissioners with the Departments of the GEOs and technical staff, especially from the female component, as the second meeting of the team was held in the southern governorates (Basra – Maysan – Muthanna – Dhi Qar – Qadisiya) in the presence of a representative of the United Nations Assistance Mission (UNAMI); to discuss the best mechanisms and procedures which will positively affect the percentage of women’s participation in the electoral process at all stages.
The chairman of the board of Commissioners participated in a workshop in Mexico on( electoral administration and justice for the Iraqi electoral authorities) . the workshop discussed several topics, including political and electoral systems and electoral justice in both Iraq and Mexico.
On the technical level, the head of the electoral administration is following up the work of the registration centers (RC) in carrying out their tasks by conducting biometric registration for unregistered voters and distributing biometric cards. The chairman met with the directors of registration centers at Baghdad/ Rusafa side with the administrative and financial assistant, office manager’s technical assistant, chiefs of units, the constituencies’ coordinators, trainers , and supervisors; to follow up their preparations and facilitate procedures of registering voters especially the youths. Send Mobile teams to the institutions of the government. He commended their efforts and honored managers who were on the top positions in biometric registration took place last September.
The number of registered voters was (381,116) voters, including registering (91,556) new-born voters, while the number of cards distributed were (549,747), biometric cards classified (82,393) cards for public voting, and (425,660) cards for private voting( the security services and the Armed Forces). (41,694) cards distributed for internal displaced persons (IDPs) and immigrants. With the presence of (1,449) local observers, and (234) political party agents
The interested in electoral affairs could see the cumulative operational situation of the biometric registration and distribution processes via visiting the following link on the official website IHEC: (https://ihec.iq/biometric-registration/)
On the security side, cooperation has been strengthen between the operations’ commands and IHEC , the directors of GEOs and the officials of the security coordination divisions there, continue to communicate with the security institutions by attending Security Conferences of the Operations Command in Diyala province, as well as visiting and meeting with the operations’ commander, the police commander and a number of security leaders in the Holy province of Karbala, Najaf and Muthanna to discuss the overall security situation of the electoral office, its registration centers, and warehouses. Also facilitating the work of mobile teams to record and update the data of security leadership members.
In the context of electoral education, the National Office/ Department of information and Mass Communication/ electoral Relations Division, in cooperation with the procedures’ division in the operations Directorate , an educational seminar was organized in both the counter-terrorism command and the Air Defence Command, which includes discussing of biometric registration procedures, the distribution of the biometric card, and the allocation of the toll-free number (5667) to answer citizens ‘ inquiries in this aspect, with similar activities in the governorates of Baghdad/ Rusafa, Diyala, Nineveh, Babylon and Erbil.
The spokesperson
7th Nov. 2022