Weekly Statement
* December the eighteenth, 2023 is the day of General Voting for local elections.
* The board of Commissioners (BoC) holds regular and extraordinary sessions in preparation for local elections.
* The (BoC ) agreed on transforming Electoral_contract employees to be operational_contracts.
* Thirty days was set by the (BoC) for the registration of alliances and parties .
* The (BoC ) approved the financial obligations of electoral participation.
* (IHEC) communicates with the Security Committee to maintain the security of the electoral process and voters.
Weekly Statement
His Excellency the Prime Minister, Mr. (Mohamed shaya’a al-Sudani) ,renewed his support for the work of (IHEC) by providing all the necessary facilities to hold the local elections on time with fairness, justice and transparency.
The chairman of the Independent High Electoral Commission, Judge (Omar Ahmed Mohamed) , discussed at the meeting in the Council of ministers, on Tuesday, (June the 20th , 2023) , scheduling the date of holding local elections, and it was agreed after discussion, to be on (December the 18th , 2023) , the day of General Voting for the (Non_Regional Governorate Council Election), as stipulated in the amended electoral law of 2023, Article (5/First/A) which states” the Council of ministers should coordinate with the commission to schedule the date of (Non_Regional Governorate Council Election) in this year, but not latter than (20/12/2023)” , the board of Commissioners has ratified the deadline for holding local elections.
The chairman of the (BoC) and its members of the Independent High Electoral Commission In Iraq (IHEC) , held their twentieth regular session on (19th June, 2023) to ratify the ballot paper form for the public and private voting of the General Elections 2023, as well as deciding to get subscription fees from electoral alliances who aim to participate in elections after their candidates’ list will submit subscription fees in form of accredited check of (ten million ID) to the account of IHEC. And the amount of (five million ID) from political parties. And ( one million ID) from the individual lists. it is considered a Non-refundable financial income to the state treasury.
the (IHEC) announced the opening of registration period For political parties and alliances wishing to participate in the non-Region governorates council elections in the region of 2023, from the (1st of July, to the 30th of July,2023). The submission of registration application must be done in the Directorate of (political parties and organizations’ Affairs) .
At their twenty-first session, held on 21st and 22nd of June 2023, the (BoC) had ratified the instructions and forms of registration and accreditation on the candidates, samples of the initial voter register, and the polling centers’ guide, the mechanism of selecting polling personnel, approving the transformation of employees frim Electoral contracts into operational contracts’ staff; in accordance with the Cabinet’s two decisions No. (315) and No. ( 337) of 2019, and give a period of time for contract_ employees, who had not been notified; to express their desire whether they wish to be hired or not until the end of the official working day on (13th August, 2023).
As for the security issues , judge (Amer Al-Husseini) , a member of the board of commissioners hold a joint meeting with the Supreme Electoral security Committee, in the presence of the director general of the Directorate of political parties and organizations’ Affairs, Dr. Hayman Tahsin, and the security coordination officer at IHEC, in which they discussed the mechanisms to protecting the security and integrity of the entire electoral process, as well as voters, including the offices of the electoral governorates, registration centers and their warehouses, in addition to audit and polling centers on both days of Private and Public Voting .
In cooperation with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI ) , a workshop was carried out for the committee of ( designing of results tabulation program, manual sorting and counting, results matching system, and counting of seats, under the supervision of Mr. Muhannad Fadel Abbas, the Technical assistant of the (CEO) the chief executive officer of the electoral administration, under the amendment occured in the electoral law concerning changing the system from the non_converted single-vote, to the proportional representation of Sainte_Lague method
The staff of the registration centers and mobile teams of the (GEOs) governorate electoral offices, continue to register voters and distribute the biometric card to previously registered voters. Efforts made by them resulted in the registration of ( 1,009,399) voters, including new births in 2004, which amounted to (207,870) voters, and (115,985) voters born in 2005. while the number of distributed cards amounted to (1,278,465) classified as (576,739) cards for public voting, and (648,831) cards for private voting for the security and armed forces. while (52,895) cards were distributed for the IDPs and immigrants. The work is carried out in the presence of agents of political parties and local observers.
For people interested in electoral affairs they can view the cumulative operational situation of both, biometric registration and distribution processes through the official website of the Election Commission https://ihec.iq/biometric-registration