Iraq Begins Early Voting for Security Forces and Displaced Ahead of National Polls
Iraq opened early voting on Sunday for security personnel and displaced citizens, the first phase of a national election that will fill 329 seats in the Council of Representatives. Polls ran from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. across the country under rules set by the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), which said more than 1.3 million members of the armed forces and roughly 26,000 displaced people were eligible to cast ballots at 809 sites. The full vote is set for Nov. 11.
IHEC has prepared 8,703 polling centers to serve more than 21 million registered voters for Tuesday’s general election. In Baghdad’s Mansour district, Interior Ministry Colonel Muayad al-Jabri said security units tightened the perimeter around voting centers and nearby neighborhoods to keep the process moving. The candidate field is crowded: 7,744 names are on the ballot, including more than 2,200 women, reflecting quotas intended to expand representation.
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This election arrives after years of political churn—protest movements that challenged patronage networks, a caretaker stretch that stalled budgets and reforms, and a lingering security landscape shaped by the Islamic State group’s defeat but not its disappearance. Early voting for uniformed personnel is meant to free forces to secure the main polling day while allowing them to participate. Displaced voters—many still rebuilding lives after conflict and economic shocks—are casting ballots at specially designated centers.
The stakes are straightforward: form a government able to pass a budget on time, channel oil revenue into services and jobs, and manage competing blocs without paralyzing the state. With the early vote underway and the general ballot days away, Iraq is testing whether tightened procedures and heavier security can deliver a credible count—and a workable coalition.
