TEHRAN - Iraq observed its first parliamentary election after the defeat of ISIS, the second election after the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011 and the fourth since toppling of Saddam's regime in 2003.

In this election, there are 320 parliaments, coalition and election lists competing with 88 electoral lists, 205 parties and political groups, and 27 electoral constituencies.  Some 70,367 candidates are participating in the election, which is less than those in 2014, that exceeded 9,000. In the election, 329 candidates will find a seat in the parliament, the prime minister and the president will too be elected.

Minorities in the Parliament have eight seats, with five seats for Christians and Mandaeans, Yazidi and Al-Shabak each with win one seat. Voting and counting will also be electronic.

As the legislature, the Iraqi parliament has the task of legislating and the work of the executive branch. Among other duties defined by the Iraqi parliament, according to the constitution of the country, the approval of international treaties and agreements, vote of confidence for the nominees appointed by the government and the election of the president, who elects the prime minister from the coalition of the majority of the parliament.

In the first post-election phase, the parliament will form the “Presidential Council” by appointing three people to serve the presidency. The number of parliamentarians is determined by one person per hundred thousand people. These parliament’s members are elected directly by the people.

Within 15 days after the announcement and approval of the results of the parliamentary elections, by President’ command the elected representatives will be chaired by the seniority's largest representative. At this meeting, the speaker, the vice chairman, as well as the first and second vice chairmen may be appointed. Each parliamentary term is 4 years according to the calendar that begins with the first meeting. The next round of parliamentary elections will be held 45 days before the end of the previous round of elections.

Independent High Commissioner for Independent Elections has the task of overseeing the process of electing members of parliament. The commissioner is a professional, independent and impartial body supervised by the parliament.

New electronic system

This year, the High Commissioner has signed a contract worth $ 135 million with a South Korean company to purchase an electronic system including 70,000 systems that are used throughout Iraq.

This machine has a scanner that is placed on top of the ballot box. When the voter selects the number of the list and the number of his nominees the system keeps a record of his vote in the ballot box by means of a specific pen and placed it on his voting machine. Afterwards, the votes are electronically counted to be sent to the central machine according to the code specified in the program within a few hours. The goal of using the new system is to accelerate the announcement of results at first and then to leave out the human factor from counting to prevent fraud, according to the Iraqi High Commissioner for Elections. However, if there is a lot of complaints or reports of an offense in the election result at the electoral center, the manual system will be used.

How to vote

The UNHCR has provided the conditions and guidelines for the success of the electoral process and holding it unobstructed. The voters have asked to vote in front of a voter list if their goal is simply to vote in the list, but if they intend to vote for a particular candidate in the voter list, they must mark both the number of the voter and the candidate number. The polling list includes the names and numbers of the lists and coalitions and the number of candidates without their names, and the voter must know the candidate's nominee number. In pulling booths, there is a special font to mark the name of the list and the candidate want. The correct way is to put the sign opposite the name of the list and the candidate you want. If the counter is listed, the vote is correct, but only the vote goes to the list, not the candidate.

Spoilt vote

The Iraqi High Commissioner for Elections has announced that if a more than one political group is elected or only a sign opposite the number to be nominated without a mark on its list, this ballot is declared invalid. If voters mark outside the boxes, the vote is, too, invalid.

On Thursday, a special vote was taken for security forces, the Iraqi army and Peshmergah in all Iraqi provinces. A single-day military poll was conducted, which, according to the UN Commissioner for Elections, reached 78%.

In this special vote, police forces, security forces, the army, pessimists, prisoners, as well as hospitalized people have voted. Iraqis living abroad, in 21 countries, can also participate in the election.