Democracy and Elections

Preliminary report on the end of the voting process in Kurdistan Iraq

The Future Network of Iraq, represented by the Tammuz Organization for Social Development, circulated its 3682 observers to all electoral centers and to most polling stations. Their circulation proceeded smoothly and quickly. The network was able to coordinate communication with observers, via telephone and field visits. It managed to organize a procession of private cars, and got ID cards to facilitate the movement of observers and ensure the performance of the network well.

And in light of the general calm that prevailed in the region since the beginning of the period of media silence, and before 8 am, the time to open the centers to elect a parliament and the President of the Kurdistan region, and there were a number of voters in front of the polling stations.

The strict security measures taken by the Ministry of Interior in the Kurdistan Region in accordance with a security plan to maintain the security and stability of the situation on 25/7/2009, had a key role in the success of the voting process.

Large numbers of police have been deployed around the polling stations, and concrete barriers have been set up in front of polling stations to keep voters safe. And closed the border crossings between the province and neighboring countries for 24 hours before the election date, and stopped air traffic to and from the region for 24 hours as well.

The first hours witnessed a high percentage of voters, and recorded a significant decline as the afternoon approached, and then escalated again after that. It should be noted that the majority of the centers opened at 8 am on 25-7-2009, and in the presence of intensive local observers and agents of political entities.

In some polling stations there were international observers, while voting in some centers was delayed for a period of not more than half an hour. Ballots were counted in most of the centers, and the boxes were closed after they were locked with specially numbered locks. After ensuring that the electoral commission team was seated at each station in its proper location, and after checking the counting of ballots, the voting process proceeded smoothly, with all the equipment available for the ballot material.  When polling stations closed, counting of votes began within the centers, and the closing numbers were verified with the numbers recorded in the opening period. The number of final ballot papers was matched with the original number of ballot papers.

There are other observations, and can be summarized as follows:

• There was a presence of the majority of the members of the Board of Commissioners in Kurdistan, as well as its cadre advanced. A number of them made field visits to polling stations, some of whom were present in the media.

• The management of the offices of our monitoring network in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk, and good coordination and continuous communication with the network center in Baghdad played an important role in coordinating the reports and unifying them and then delivering them as quickly as required to the competent authorities.

• The presence of the staff of our network in the media was well, a number of network staff has participated in television programs, and was able to put information and data and analysis at the disposal of public opinion. The network’s media office played a prominent role in publishing the initial rapid reports issued by the network and distributing them to all the media.

• There was a distinct role for the observers of our network to be in the stations before the election and until the closure, and the coordinators had a distinct effort to communicate with them.

Our observers have recorded a number of observations that we summarize as follows:

• The absence of the names of quite a number of voters in the electoral register, and this was a negative and unjustified factor.

• The names of a number of members of the same family were found in the electoral register, while the names of others from the same family were not found.

• A number of voters found their names on the list attached to the outer wall of the center, but their names were not listed in the register inside the station.

• A number of voters was able to make the ink used to signal the voter’s finger dissipate after voting, a problem that was repeated in all elections.

• Violation of the secrecy of the ballot, by opening the ballot paper before inserting it into a box in a specified number of stations.

• There have been some who wear clothes designed to advertise for a certain list.

• Some observers of political entities used his position at the station to urge voters to vote for a particular list.

• The voting of some persons whose names were not on the voters register was observed, according to list 111.

At a time when we refer to the observations, violations and shortcomings mentioned in this report, and so quickly, we aim to have them noted immediately and take an appropriate action. We will see all this in detail, and with the accuracy required, in our full report, which will be issued a few days later.

Tammuz Organization for Social Development

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