Provincial Elections Smoothly Conducted and Well Organized
31 January 2009
Baghdad, 31 January – The Chairman of the Independent High Electoral Commission tonight congratulated all Iraqis as he announced the closure of more than 6,471 polling centers and 41,495 polling stations after 11 hours of voting by millions of Iraqis. “This is a crucial election for our country. I am proud of the enthusiasm Iraqis showed today when they came out to vote for better futures for all of us.”
He added that “hundreds of thousands of IHEC staff worked dutifully according to procedures” and he thanked them for their hard work.
After visiting polling centers in Anbar, Ninewa and Baghdad, the Special Representative of the United Nations for Iraq, Mr. Staffan de Mistura said he was “very pleased with the high number of women he saw voting and that Iraqis from all communities were out exercising their right to vote for new governorate council representatives. He noted that “the voting was well-organized, polling staff were all following the same procedures and IHEC seems to have demonstrated its independence and professionalism on this day.”
Mr. de Mistura and Chairman Al-Haydari both thanked the Iraqi and Coalition Security forces for a well executed National Security Plan that provided a safe environment for today’s election.
Following counting at the polling stations the election results will be tallied at the National Tally Center in Baghdad and provisional results released by IHEC in the coming days.
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