Weekly Statement
• The (BoC) held several extraordinary sessions to keep up with and organize the work.
• The (BoC)and the Electoral Administration hold an expanded meeting with the GEOs.
• The (IHEC)…starting the process of Updating the region’s voter data starting from the 13th of July.
• The GEOs that are not associated with the Region; receive lists of candidates starting from 15th of July.
Weekly Statement
The Chairman of the Board of Commissioners (BoC) and the members of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) held their successive exceptional sessions; to keep up with and organize the work of the Directorate of Political Parties and Organizations’ Affairs during the period of registration of parties and alliances wishing to participate in the upcoming elections, whose duration was determined according to the operational schedule from the (1st of July – 30th July/2023), as the (BoC) approved during its sessions, the issuing the certificate of incorporation to the parties wishing to do so, also giving agreement to the parties that want to change their names. The minutes of the committee regarding the preparation of instructions for the maximum financial expenditure on electoral campaigns were also discussed.
On the other hand, and in implementation of the ministerial order in which it states forming permanent committees in IHEC, whose task is to set strategies of developing and follow up the work. As Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a number of members of the Board of Commissioners held an expanded meeting in the presence of the Technical Affairs assistant of the (CEO), and the United Nations International Assistance Mission (UNAMI), in addition to the technical assistants of the (GEOs); to review the most important developments in the process of updating the public and private voter register and distributing the biometric cards to find out the challenges and obstacles that may face their work, as well as reviewing the progress of work in the administrative, financial, technical and logistical aspects and their suitability with regulations and instructions that contribute to preparing and organizing offices for the next electoral event.
The Directorate of Political Parties and Organizations Affairs continues the process of registering parties and alliances wishing to participate in the upcoming governorates elections on the (1st) first of this July. The work resulted in the registration of (15) new parties and (9) political alliances, while (79) parties (under establishment), submitted their petitions of registration. in addition to (41) previously register political alliances in the constituency since the parliamentary elections of (2018) and of (2021), while the governorate electoral offices that are not associated with a region including Baghdad electoral offices of Karkh and Rusafa, are still receiving lists of candidates since 15th of July and continues until 13th of August 2023, as the amended Governorates Council Election’s Law of 2023, included the conditions required for the candidate, such as:- being a fully eligible Iraqi who has completed thirty years of age on the day of voting, holding a BA. degree or its equivalent, but if it was for the quota of components, a middle school certificate and above is wanted. The candidate for the governorate council must be one of the governorate’s residences in which he is nominated according to the civil status register, or has resided in it continuously for a period of not less than ten years.
According to the operational timetable for the voter registry update phase, (906) registration centers spread in The Governorates that are not associated with the Region, they continue to receive voters wishing to update their data for public and private voting, in addition to conduct the biometric registration process for newly born voters in (2005) and 2004), and previously unregistered voters, in addition to running more than (1,800) mobile teams whose task was distributing biometric cards in the centers, and conducting the (biometric registration, correction, addition, transfer, deletion, the IDPs, and armed forces), as the instructions allowed voters to transfer Their data is from one governorate to another and within the same governorate, except for the governorates of (Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salah al-Din, and Anbar), where voters are allowed to move within the governorate exclusively.
The number of voters who updated their data for public voting reached to (62,428) voters, while (196) voters who updated their data for private voting since the start of the updating process until 14th of July. The Electoral Commission renews its invitation to voters wishing to make any of the update cases to go to the nearest registration center.
(IHEC) started updating the voter data in the governorates (Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Dohuk) through its (173) electoral centers deployed in the region, starting from the (13th of July until the11th August, 2023), in order to ensure the sobriety and accuracy of the voter register in preparation for any electoral entitlement.
With the start of the campaign of updating the voter register, (IHEC) launched the campaign of electoral awareness and education through the Department of Information and Mass Communication, which worked in coordination with stakeholders from government institutions, departments and civil society organizations as they have a prominent role in helping to spread electoral awareness among voters. In addition to their role in monitoring the biometric update process.