Poll results out in 2 weeks- IHEC

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The results of the provincial council elections that took place in 14 out of Iraq’s 18 provinces over one week ago will be announced within two weeks, a senior election official said on Monday. “The maximum time limit for announcing the results of elections is two weeks, but we will do our best to announce them even earlier than that,” the head of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), Faraj al-Haidari, said on Monday. On 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 patients cast early ballots in the special voting, held on Jan. 28. Participation in the local council elections all over Iraq reached 51 percent, the IHEC said. SS (P) 1