Middle East News

Thousands head to polls as advance voting begins in Iraq

Mar 4, 2010, 9:30 GMT

Baghdad - Thousands of police, soldiers, prisoners and hospitalised Iraqis were expected to cast their votes Thursday in the first day of special voting procedures for the parliamentary elections. General voting is expected to begin Sunday. Some 950,000 voters from Iraqi police, army and other security bodies, the medically infirm and prisoners serving less than five years in prison are expected to cast their votes in 459 polling stations across the country. 'I voted early this morning with my colleagues before we began our duty to secure a polling station in al-Karada area,' said Ali Hassan, a 25-year-old policeman. 'Groups of security members head to the different polling stations according to a previously set schedule,' Hassan told the German Press Agency dpa. However, some high-ranking officers were not allowed to vote because their names were not registered in the voter lists. Chief of Baghdad Operations Qassim Atta said that he tried to vote in the morning but did not find his name registered. He called on the Independent Electoral Commission to intervene. The Iraqi government announced a 5-day holiday starting Thursday and a curfew on vehicles to ease and secure the voting process, which ends Sunday, with the general voting.

Middle East News

Thousands head to polls as advance voting begins in Iraq

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