82.42% turnout in Iraq's special vote; Noori al-Maliki leads unofficial reports

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) - International Service: According to the final report of the Independent High Election Commission of Iraq, out of about 1 million 313 thousand eligible voters in the special vote, more than 1 million 104 thousand people participated in the process, which is equivalent to 82.42% turnout.

 

Meanwhile, Erbil province in the Kurdistan Region recorded the highest turnout with 98%, and the Al-Rusafa district of Baghdad had the lowest turnout with 70%.

 

The Iraqi Election Commission spokesperson, Jumana al-Ghalai, told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the manual and electronic vote counting has been completed and the results have been delivered to the representatives of the electoral groups. She stressed that no discrepancies were observed between the manual and electronic counting and that only four complaints had been received from the provincial offices.

 

Meanwhile, some unofficial reports published in the Iraqi media indicate that Nouri al-Maliki, leader of the State of Law coalition, is at the top of the race with 53,347 votes. After him, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the current prime minister and leader of the Construction and Development coalition, is in second place with 41,466 votes.

 

Also, Major General Yahya Rasool al-Zubaidi, former spokesman for the General Command of the Iraqi Armed Forces and a member of the State of Law coalition, is in third place with 17,115 votes. In contrast, former parliament speaker and leader of the "Advance" coalition, Mohammed al-Halbousi, came in sixth place with only 1,956 votes.

 

The special vote, which took place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, specifically targeted security forces, the military, and displaced people in camps. For the first time, the Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) also participated in this phase.

 

The second phase of the election, including a nationwide vote, is scheduled for Tuesday, November 10, and will involve more than 21 million eligible voters. The Independent High Election Commission (IHC) has predicted that the initial results of this phase will be announced within 24 hours of the end of voting.