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Cairo
26 July 2009
Iraq's Electoral Commission says voter turnout in Saturday's Kurdish election was high and polling went smoothly, despite allegations of irregularities by Kurdish opposition groups. The results of the election are not expected for several days.
Counting of ballots from Saturday's Kurdish elections has begun in earnest.
Iraq's Electoral Commission, which is overseeing the vote count, says that results should be announced within 36 to 48 hours, barring unforeseen complications.
The commission's special representative, Hamziya al Husseini says voter turnout in the three Kurdish provinces was impressive, and that the voting process went smoothly.
She says that in Suleimaniyah voter turnout was about 75 percent, in Daouk it was 85.9 percent and in Irbil it was 79 percent. Across all of Kurdistan, she calculates, voter turnout was 78.5 percent. The election, for the most part, she adds, went smoothly.
Husseini told al Arabiya TV the process of tabulating votes is being done in Baghdad, "due to the ability to conduct business in a strictly controlled environment, according to international standards."
Kurdish opposition groups led by the "Goran", or Change block of Nusherwan Mustapha, issued a list of complaints about improper electoral procedures and numerous irregularities during Saturday's vote.
Al-Sumariyah TV reported the complaints include coercion of voters by ruling-coalition party officials, exclusion of certain voters from electoral lists, and turning a blind eye to voters who were not registered to vote.
Kurdistan's Interior Minister, Karim Zingari, who belongs to the ruling coalition between the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), insisted that international observers saw to it that the process went smoothly.
He says that the voting process took place with the participation of hundreds of international and local (election) observer, and that the event transpired in a first-rate fashion in a tranquil atmosphere, with no security lapses.
The Goran, or Change list, said on its website that it had won a majority in Suleimaniyah, the traditional bastion of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. A Goran supporter, parliament member Sirwan Zahawi, said his bloc "could win up to 35 seats" in the 111 seat Kurdish parliament.
Allegations of corruption and nepotism against Kurdistan's ruling KDP-PUK coalition have pushed many voters to turn against them, but neither are expected to lose power.
Opposition Kurdish presidential candidate Helou Ibrahim Ahmed told al-Hurra TV the ruling coalition was responsible for fraud, giving the example of a recent international oil contract.
He says the Kurdish government allowed cronies to profit from an oil deal, which should have been strictly between Kurdistan and the foreign oil company that won the contract. He asks why did this happen?
Both of Kurdistan's ruling parties, the KDP and the PUK, ran jointly against several-dozen smaller parties.
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