Iraq begins manual count of special vote
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Iraq began manually counting ballots from Sunday’s special voting after polling stations closed nationwide at 6:00 pm, amid tight security across the country, including the Kurdistan Region.
Shafaq News correspondents observed counting operations inside several centers, where election staff reviewed ballots by hand in the presence of monitors and party representatives.
Election officials said results will be merged with the general election results after the nationwide vote on November 11. All ballot boxes are to be sealed and secured under 24-hour protection until final counting begins.
Deputy Commander of Joint Operations, Lt. Gen. Qais Al-Muhammadawi, reported that turnout among security and military personnel surpassed 80% nationwide, with participation exceeding 97% in the Kurdistan Region’s three provinces — Erbil, Duhok, and al-Sulaymaniyah — and ranging between 50% and 90% elsewhere.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani praised the participation of security forces, calling it a “responsible exercise of constitutional rights,” and vowed to safeguard the electoral process from interference.
الإخوة والأخوات من أبناء قواتنا الأمنية والعسكرية البواسل، نتقدم لكم أولاً بالتهنئة على ممارسة حقكم الدستوري ومشاركتكم الفاعلة والواعية في الانتخابات، واختياركم لممثليكم في مجلس النواب المقبل. وإننا في هذه اللحظة الفاصلة نؤكد أن واجبنا الوطني يحتم علينا تأمين بيئة انتخابية آمنة…
— محمد شياع السوداني (@mohamedshia) November 9, 2025
A total of about 1.34 million Iraqis are eligible to participate in the special vote, though only 1.31 million have received their biometric cards to cast ballots. The electorate includes roughly 1.29 million members of the security and military forces and around 26,500 IDPs.
Read more: Iraq’s 2025 poll: +21M voters, new law, fading monitors, and fierce bloc rivalries
