Kurdish Court Mulls Biometric Voter Registration Complaint

A group of 14 individuals from the Kurdistan Region has filed a complaint with Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court, citing problems with voting machines failing to recognize their fingerprints.

The issue has surfaced ahead of the Kurdistan Region’s upcoming parliamentary elections. The complaint targets the head of the commissioners’ council of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).

The plaintiffs, hailing from the provinces of Duhok, Erbil, and Sulaimani, claim to represent “thousands of people” facing similar biometric identification problems. They are urging the council head to address these issues, suggesting three potential solutions: extending the registration period, implementing iris recognition as an alternative, or establishing a special registration process for those affected.

In response to these ongoing challenges, the commission previously halted biometric registrations in May and called for a re-collection of biometric data for voters whose records were problematic. According to current guidelines, up to five percent of voters at any polling station can vote without fingerprint verification, but beyond this threshold, only those with valid fingerprints are allowed to vote.

The issue has been a significant concern for the Kurdistan Region’s leadership, with President Barzani addressing it in a letter to the IHEC in March. The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has also raised concerns, reporting that around 400,000 individuals, roughly 20 percent of eligible voters, experienced fingerprint recognition failures.

The much-delayed parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 20, and preparations were reviewed in a recent meeting between the Kurdistan Region Presidency and the IHEC in Erbil.

Source: Rudaw

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August 19, 2024 – by the FindBiometrics Editorial Team