Iraq&#39 s election Oct. 10 held under state&#39 s fairness, transparency guarantees

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) By Al'a Al-Huwaijel
BAGHDAD, Oct 9 (KUNA) -- Millions of eligible Iraqi voters will head to the polls tomorrow, Sunday, to choose their representatives at the parliament under state's guarantees for a fair and transparent race. International observers from the UN and EU will be present during the election.
This is the first early election in Iraq after the government resigned in 2019 over nationwide protests.
According to the new election law, the parliament will consist of 329 seats with 83 allocated for women. Minorities will have nine seats.
Some 3,244 hopefuls are partaking in the race for parliament with 950 women candidates. There 789 candidates running as independent.
The election will include 83 constituencies throughout Iraq and only those within the country are allowed to vote according to the new election law on the pretense of combating the spread of the coronavirus.
The Iraq government called for international monitoring of the election with the UN sending some 130 observers while the EU contributing 80 individuals.
To secure the election, the Iraqi supreme security committee decided to close all border points at 11:00 pm local-time Saturday until 06:00 am next Monday.
As for the election forecast, despite the lack of specialized survey centers, the general assumption leads towards Shiite parties winning the majority of seats, followed by Kurdish parties and then Sunnis.
The previous protests did result in the birth of smaller political forces, which will rally itself around the concept of independency from any political allegiances.
Current Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Khadimi will not partake in the election as candidate and that is not to say that he would not be part of the government because despite not participating in the previous election, he ended up as head of the Iraqi cabinet. (end)
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