Iraq completes security preparations ahead parliamentary elections

An Iraqi man looks at the candidates’ electoral campaign posters ahead of the parliamentary elections, in Baghdad, Iraq on 17 April 2018 [Murtadha Sudani/Anadolu Agency]

Preparations for securing the polls for the country’s parliamentary elections due on 12 May have been competed, the Iraqi interior ministry announced yesterday.

“The security plan for the elections, which is due on Saturday 12 May, has been finalised,” the ministry’s spokesperson, Saad Maan, told reporters during a press conference in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

“The plan was developed by a high security committee comprised of representatives of all the Iraqi security and intelligence agencies in coordination with the electoral commission,” Maan explained.

The air force, he added, will be on standby to provide security and protection as well.

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A total of 7,376 candidates, representing 320 parties, coalitions and lists, will be competing for membership in Iraq’s 328 seat parliament, which is expected to elect the country’s president and prime minister.

Twenty-four million Iraqis are eligible to vote.

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