SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Security forces have detained 77 people for violating the electoral commission’s rules during the Iraqi general election, Iraq’s military said on Sunday.
Iraqi voters headed to the polling stations to elect a new parliament on Sunday.
Iraq’s security media cell said detachments of the Supreme Security Committee for elections had detained 77 people who violated the electoral commission’s rules.
The detainees were in Baghdad, Nineveh, Diyala, Kirkuk, Basra, Anbar, Saladin, Erbil, Wasit and Diwaniyah, it added.
“The violators were referred to the judicial committees that were formed by the Supreme Judicial Council,” it said in a tweet.
The election is being held several months early under a new law designed to help independent candidates – a response to mass anti-government protests two years ago.
Voter turnout has been low across Iraq. There are fears the turnout could drip below the 44.5 percent figure registered in 2018.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi urged voters to cast their ballots for the future of Iraq.
As many as 24,029,927 people are eligible to vote in 8,273 polling stations in Iraqi provinces and the Kurdistan Region. Voters will present a biometric card for what was conceived as a fully electronic voting process.
As many as 3,226 candidates are in the running, including nearly 950 women.
Nearly 900 U.N. and EU observers and around 46,800 internal spectators monitor the election process. More than 207,340 political. As many as 1,500 media outlets inside Iraq and more than 300 international journalists cover the election, according to electoral commission.
