Despite the growth in voting-age population, Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) statistics show this election has seen a decrease of more than 700,000 voters, including over 200,000 within Kurdistan Region constituencies.

This decline stems from an amendment to the Iraqi Parliament and Provincial Council election law that suspended the use of temporary voting cards, which were permitted alongside biometric cards in the 2021 election. Voting now relies solely on biometric cards, resulting in nearly 6.4 million temporary cards being suspended.

Those who held temporary cards have not been deleted from the voter registry but remain as unregistered voters because they have not visited polling stations to update their registration with biometric cards.

Differences in Voter Registration Between the Two Elections:

Erbil Constituency

Erbil province had 1,151,420 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 1,087,880 voters, a decrease of 63,540 voters.

Duhok Constituency

The province had 832,424 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 778,846 voters, a decrease of 53,578 voters.

Sulaimani Constituency

Among Kurdistan Region constituencies, the greatest decrease is in the Sulaymaniyah and Halabja constituency at 92,049 voters. Both provinces comprised five electoral constituencies in the previous election with 1,293,707 voters, but in this election they have 1,201,658 voters.

Kirkuk Constituency

Kirkuk province had 992,118 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 958,141 voters, a decrease of 33,977 voters.

Nineveh Constituency

In Nineveh, contrary to most Iraqi and Kurdistan Region provinces, the number of voters has increased significantly. The province had 1,838,460 voters in the previous election; for this election it has 2,102,429 voters, an increase of 263,969 voters.

Diyala Constituency

The province had 1,014,867 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 1,051,143 voters, an increase of 36,276 voters.

Anbar Constituency

Anbar province had 1,062,594 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 980,471 voters, a decrease of 82,125 voters.

Baghdad Constituency

In the Commission’s statistics, Baghdad is divided into two areas: Karkh and Rusafa. In both areas, the number of voters has decreased.

Baghdad-Karkh had 2,241,843 voters in the 2021 election; for this election there are 1,940,903 voters, a decrease of 300,940 voters.

Baghdad-Rusafa had 2,757,899 voters in the 2021 election; for this election there are 2,373,963 voters, a decrease of 383,936 voters.

Babil Constituency

The province had 1,149,619 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 1,145,458 voters, a decrease of 4,161 voters.

Karbala Constituency

Karbala province had 689,323 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 679,556 voters, a decrease of 9,767 voters.

Wasit Constituency

Wasit province had 775,670 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 787,784 voters, an increase of 12,114 voters.

Salah al-Din Constituency

Salah al-Din province had 872,774 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 861,156 voters, a decrease of 11,618 voters.

Najaf Constituency

Najaf province had 835,542 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 838,270 voters, an increase of 2,728 voters.

Diwaniyah Constituency

Diwaniyah province had 719,996 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 729,070 voters, an increase of 9,074 voters.

Muthanna Constituency

Muthanna province had 468,488 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 510,867 voters, an increase of 42,379 voters.

Dhi Qar Constituency

Dhi Qar province had 1,137,744 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 1,138,694 voters, an increase of 950 voters.

Maysan Constituency

Maysan province had 641,361 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 615,147 voters, a decrease of 26,214 voters.

Basra Constituency

Basra province had 1,640,519 voters in the previous election; in this election it has 1,622,855 voters, a decrease of 17,664 voters.

Grand Total

In the fifth session of the Iraqi Parliament election held in 2021, there were 22,116,368 voters. According to the Commission’s latest statistics, 21,404,291 people in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq have biometric voting cards, meaning they are registered voters. Between the two elections, there has been a decrease of 712,077 voters.