Biometric polling is coming to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region ahead of an important vote, reports Rudaw.
The Baghdad-based Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has been setting up voter registration centers at which Kurds will be asked to provide numerous ID documents, and to submit to a fingerprint scan. That biometric data will subsequently be linked to their votes, helping to fight fraud.
Speaking to Rudaw, IHEC head Ali Kadir Obed acknowledged that previous elections saw fraud in the form of repeat votes from the same individual, and votes cast in the name of the deceased; but with the biometric polling system, “there will be nothing like that.”
The head of Kurdistan’s election commission, meanwhile, says that he hopes the system will be ready ahead of a referendum on Kurdish independence, which is expected to take place next year. And IHEC is seeking to ensure that everyone gets a say, with a registration outreach campaign involving 40 teams seeking out internally displaced persons from the conflict with ISIS; the overall aim, after all, is for democracy to prevail in the war-torn country.
Source: Rudaw
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August 19, 2016 – by Alex Perala
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