Hundreds of Iraqi security personnel barred from voting

By Hussein al-Amir and Mohamed Waleed

BAGHDAD

Hundreds of Iraqi security personnel were prevented from voting in parliamentary polls on Thursday, local police sources told Anadolu Agency.

“Electoral officials stopped about 450 security personnel from voting in Saladin province, while another 100 were prevented from casting ballots in the city of Samarra,” Police Lieutenant Numan al-Jubouri told Anadolu Agency late Thursday.

Al-Jubouri attributed the problem to malfunctioning electronic voting machines and the fact that the would-be voters’ names did not appear on official voter lists.

Nineveh Police Captain Safa al-Abbasi told Anadolu Agency that a number of voting machines in Nineveh province had stopped working due to intermittent power outages.

Shortly before noon Thursday, several voting machines -- which are being used for the first time in Iraqi elections -- malfunctioned, according to Baghdad security officials.

On Thursday, Iraqi police, military and other security personnel cast ballots in the country’s first parliamentary poll since 2014 in which more than 7,000 candidates are vying for seats in Iraq’s 328-member national assembly.

Voting among the general public is set to take place nationwide on Saturday.

Roughly 24 million out of 37 million Iraqis are registered to take part in the polls.