Low turnout in Iraq Kurdistan elections

The first four hours of voting in the semi-autonomous region of Iraq’s Kurdistan have seen a low turnout by voters, a source in the Electoral Commission in Iraq’s Kurdistan said.

The source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, told the Anadolu Agency that the participation rate in the parliamentary elections reached about 15 per cent until 09:00 GMT.

Voting began at 05:00 GMT and continues until 15:00 GMT.

Kurdish voters cast their votes in 1,200 polling stations across the provinces of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Dohuk and Halabja.

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As many as 3.3 million voters are eligible to vote. Security officials and personnel voted two days ago with a 91.69 per cent participation rate.

As many as 673 candidates are competing for 111 seats.

This is the first parliamentary elections in the region since the defeat of Daesh at the end of last year.

The elections also come after a failed attempt to secede from Iraq through a referendum held in September last year.