IHEC Conducts First Nationwide Test of Electronic Vote Counting Ahead of November Elections

PUKMEDIA

IHEC Spokesperson Jumana al-Ghalai.

Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has begun its first pilot simulation of electronic vote counting and sorting devices, along with surveillance cameras at polling stations nationwide, to assess performance and address any technical issues ahead of November’s parliamentary elections.

IHEC spokesperson Jumana al-Ghalai told PUKMEDIA that the simulation is taking place on Sunday, 10 August 2025, at 1,079 registration centres, in addition to 20 provincial electoral offices. “The employees will serve as voters in this trial,” she said.

Ghalai added that in each province, a special voting station has been opened in coordination with local security authorities. Some of these stations may be located within military units, with military personnel acting as voters.

On Saturday evening, the IHEC conducted the draw for numbering electoral lists at the Mansour Melia Hotel in Baghdad. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) will compete under the number 222 in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok, Halabja, Kirkuk, and Diyala. In Nineveh, it will run as part of the Union of Nineveh People Coalition under number 281.

The PUK also has one candidate in Saladin province within the National Masses Coalition and another in Baghdad. In total, the party is fielding candidates in eight provinces — the widest geographical spread of any Kurdish political party in these elections.

The PUK’s candidate distribution includes: 36 in Sulaymaniyah, 30 in Erbil, 5 in Duhok, 24 in Kirkuk, and 28 in Diyala. In Nineveh, the coalition is fielding 62 candidates, 31 of them from the PUK. The Baghdad and Saladin candidates bring the party’s nationwide total to 156 contenders.

Iraq’s Council of Ministers, chaired by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, approved 11 November 2025 as the date for the next parliamentary elections during its session on 9 April this year.



PUKMEDIA