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Iraq to close airports, border crossings during upcoming elections

Arab World Materials 30 September 2021 05:25 (UTC +04:00)

The Iraqi authorities decided on Wednesday to close all airports and border crossings during the upcoming elections slated for Oct. 10 for security reasons, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

Ghaleb al-Attiyah, spokesman of an Iraqi higher committee responsible for securing the elections, told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the closure of airports and border crossings will take effect from Oct. 9 until the morning of Oct. 11.

Al-Attiyah also said the committee will ban the movement of motorcycles and allow other vehicles to move inside the cities to facilitate the movement of voters from their homes to the polling centers, according to INA.

According to the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission, about 24 million Iraqis are eligible to vote in 8,273 polling centers across the country in the Oct. 10 elections, in which around 3,249 candidates will compete for 329 seats in the parliament.

The previous Iraqi parliamentary elections took place on May 12, 2018, and the next one was originally scheduled for 2022 but has been moved up to an earlier date due to national protests against corruption and lack of public services.

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