Security personnel vote in Kurd region parliament polls

By Aref Yusuf and Ali Mohamed

ERBIL, Iraq

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and security personnel on Friday began voting in elections for the parliament of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

Polling among the general public is set to take place in the region on Sunday.

Polling centers opened their doors at 8:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) for more than 170,000 security personnel eligible to vote.

The voting process, held at 93 polling centers throughout the region, is scheduled to conclude at 6:00 p.m. (1500 GMT).

The election will see 673 candidates compete for 111 seats in the Kurdish regional parliament, with 11 seats reserved for minorities (five for Turkmen, five for Christians and Assyrians, and one for Armenians).

This will be the region’s fifth parliamentary election since 1992.