Security forces, IDPs cast votes early in Iraq's parliamentary elections
Early voting has opened in Iraq’s parliamentary elections.
Early voting is underway for Iraq’s parliamentary elections, with soldiers, prisoners and displaced Iraqis heading to the polls on Friday to vote.
The elections are being held a year early, in keeping with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s campaign pledge. The vote was originally scheduled for June but pushed back until Oct. 10.
Early elections were among the main demands of the protest movement that swept Baghdad and southern Iraq in October 2019. Kadhimi’s predecessor, Adel Abdul Mahdi, resigned under pressure from tens of thousands of protesters fed up with the political establishment and Iranian influence in Iraq’s government.
Voters will select the Council of Representatives’ 328 members, which will then elect the president and prime minister. The general election is the country’s fifth since the US invasion and toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
