*UPDATES WITH DETAILS, EDITS THROUGHOUT
By Haydar Hadi and Idris Okuducu
BAGHDAD (AA) – Iraqis began voting in the country’s first parliamentary election on Saturday since Iraq declared victory against the Daesh terrorist group.
Polling stations across the country, including the capital Baghdad and northern Iraq’s Kurdish region, opened at 07:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) and will close at 7:00 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).
“Iraqis will decide the future of their country,” Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi told reporters as he cast his ballot in Karada district in central Baghdad.
“I call for effective participation in the polls,” he said.
Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri also called on Iraqi voters to turn out en masse to vote in the parliamentary polls.
“A poor turnout will help certain parties disliked by voters to reach the decision-making positions,” al-Jabouri said as he cast ballot in Baghdad.
In northern Iraq’s Kurdish region, the prime minister of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), Nechirvan Barzani, said Iraq’s political process will not succeed without the participation of Kurds in the upcoming government.
“No party will be able to form a government without alliances,” Barzani said as he cast his ballot in Erbil in northern Iraq. “I don’t think the political process in Iraq will succeed without the Kurdish participation in the upcoming government.”
According to the election commission, voting was going smoothly in all Iraqi provinces.
– Attacks
Meanwhile, six people were killed in militant attacks on a number of security checkpoints in the northern Kirkuk province on Saturday.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Police Capt. Hamed al-Obaidi said Daesh militants attacked security checkpoints manned by Iraqi police and pro-government Hashd al-Shaabi fighters in al-Rashad district in Kirkuk.
“Four policemen and two pro-government fighters were killed in the attacks,” he said.
Four people were also injured when mortar shells hit near a polling station in Diyala province in eastern Iraq.
Gunmen also attempted to attack voters in the district, triggering clashes with security forces, he said. No injuries were reported.
Security forces also shot dead two bombers before they detonated their explosive belts near polling stations in Diyala and Kirkuk.
Saturday’s poll is the country’s first election since Daesh was decisively defeated late last year after overrunning much of northern and western Iraq in mid-2014.
Some 24 million people — out of Iraq’s roughly 37-million-strong population – are eligible to cast ballots in the election.
The ballot is being held under the shadow of economic crisis, return of thousands of refugees, political polarization and security unrest.
