19 million eligible Iraqis can vote in January national elections

BAGHDAD, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said more than 19 million eligible Iraqis can cast their votes in the country's January parliamentary elections, an official newspapers reported on Thursday.

"The IHEC approved the distribution of the parliamentary seats which will be 323 seats for all the Iraqi provinces where there will be 19 million eligible Iraqis to cast their votes," the official al-Sabah newspaper quoted Faraj al-Haidari, the head of IHEC, as saying.

The report also said Haidari was informed by the three-member presidency council (President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents Adel Abdul Mahdi and Tariq al-Hashimi) that they want the national polls to be moved to Jan. 18 instead of the agreed date of Jan. 21 because of a religious ceremony.

"The decision is theirs (presidency council) and they orally informed us that it will be on Jan. 18," Haidari said.

Qassim al-Abboudi, member of the IHEC' commissioners board, told the newspaper that his electoral commission will prepare 7,500 polling centers which will provide 52,000 polling stations across the Iraqi provinces.

On Nov. 8, the Iraqi lawmakers finally passed the controversial election law that will govern the January elections after weeks of wrangling.

The vote was originally scheduled on Jan. 16, but was delayed by the debate among the parliamentary blocs about whether to adopt the open list or closed list system and how to carry out elections in the ethnically mixed province of Kirkuk.