Poll in Kirkuk was “success”- IHEC

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: The local election held in Kirkuk to allow displaced persons in the city to elect their representatives in the provincial councils was “successful,” a senior local source said on Monday. “No violations have been reported in Kirkuk,” the head of the Independent High Electoral Commission’s (IHEC) office in Kirkuk, Farhad Talabani, told IraqiNews.com news agency. The election was held under the supervision of 96 political bloc observers, 68 from civil society organizations, and three teams from the United Nations. On Saturday (Jan. 31), voters headed to polling stations in Baghdad and 13 other Iraqi provinces to elect their representatives in the country’s provincial councils amidst tight security measures. Over 15 million voters participated in the election, according to the IHEC. Security personnel, prisoners sentenced to less than five years and hospital-bound cast early ballots in the special voting, held on Wednesday (Jan. 28). Kirkuk, an oil rich and mixed city of Kurds, Turkmen, Christians and Arabs, lies 250 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. SS (P)/SR 1