UNPO Publishes Report on Kurdistani Elections

August 12th, 2009

krg.jpgThe UNPO Election Observation Mission (EOM) has today published its report of the presidential and parliamentary elections held on 25 July 2009 in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Below is a press release published by UNPO:

Deployed as Short Term Observers (STOs) for the election, the EOM arrived in Kurdistan on 21 July 2009. The team observed a total of thirty-six polling stations in twelve polling centers in the Erbil Governorate of Kurdistan over the course of election day before concluding their mission on 27 July 2009.

During election day, the EOM travelled through polling centers in Kurdish and Assyrian areas and observed voting in rural and urban polling centers in the vicinities of Ankawa, Erbil, Shawish, Salahaddin, and Shaqlawa.

The report notes that while polling centers were found to be “well organized”, concerns were raised over the misuse of campaigning materials in and around polling centers and the report details worries over the use and verification of voters identified by Form 111.

The twenty page report makes seven recommendations regarding the administration of the elections, the use of campaign materials, continuing voter education needs, and the importance of supporting Kurdistani civil society.

The EOM follows UNPO’s earlier mission to the Nineveh Province to observe the conduct of the Provincial Elections held on 31 January 2009. UNPO intends to field a further EOM for the Iraqi Parliamentary Elections scheduled for Spring 2010.