Health employees, inmates can’t vote in Kurdistan’s election

This article originally appeared in Rudaw.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Inmates in the Kurdistan Region and employees of the health ministry working in hospitals won't be able to vote in the parliamentary elections on September 30.

An official with the electoral commission explained it is because relevant ministries did not submit their lists of these voters on time.

The electoral commission asked the Ministry of Health to send its list of employees and for the Ministry of Interior to send the list of eligible inmates, explained commission spokesperson Sherwan Zirar.

"Unfortunately, we didn't get the list on time. We told them that we wouldn't be able to register them if the list doesn't arrive by the deadline," he told Rudaw.

Inmates serving jail sentences of less than five years have the right to vote. According to the Correctional Directorate, about 2,500 inmates qualify.

The head of Erbil's Correctional Directorate said there is still time to register the names of eligible inmates.

"We prepared ourselves for it some days ago with the start of the election campaign when the decision was made for elections to be held on September 30. We then prepared ourselves and we are ready now as well," said Hemin Farooq.

Eligible voters living overseas are also not able to vote. The commission lacked the financial resources to set up voting stations for the diaspora.

This article was originally published in Rudaw.

The post Health employees, inmates can't vote in Kurdistan's election appeared first on The Kurdish Project.