Kurdish parties fielded candidates in the provinces of Kirkuk, Nineveh, Diyala, and Salahaddin. Rudaw's calculations based on the collected votes by each party indicate that the total seats in the provincial councils amassed by the Kurds amount to 15 out of a possible 75.
Monday’s polls saw the return of the Sainte-Laguë voting method, a controversial system that uses the single-constituency per province system instead of the multiple-constituency system.
According to preliminary results from 94 percent of the votes announced by the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the New Generation Movement (NGM), the Kirkuk Torch alliance -consisting of the Kurdistan Islamic Party (KIU) and Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal)-, and the Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party (KSDP) garnered over 40 percent of the votes combined in the disputed province of Kirkuk.
The PUK lead the polls in Kirkuk with 139,373 votes. The KDP won 46,479 votes, while the NGM and Kirkuk Torch alliance collected 24,620 and 6,655 votes respectively. The KSDP obtained 377 votes.
Kirkuk province recorded the highest turnout across all provinces, with 66 percent of eligible voters casting ballots, numbering over 566,000 votes.
Despite the high turnout, neither the NGM, Kirkuk Torch Alliance, nor the KSDP managed to secure enough votes for a seat in the council of the disputed province, according to the preliminary calculations. In total, 53,617 Kurdish votes in Kirkuk were wasted, which also includes the KDP and PUK votes that were not enough to garner them a seat.
In Nineveh province, which recorded a 52 percent voter turnout, the KDP and the KSDP entered the elections independently, while the PUK entered under the umbrella of the Nineveh People Union alliance.
The KDP came second in the province with 127,938 votes, the PUK gained 45,393 votes, and the KSDP scored 923 votes. Rudaw’s calculations of the seats show that the KDP won four seats in the council, and the PUK won two. Obtaining six seats on the council from a total of 174,254 Kurdish votes means that 34,454 votes in Nineveh would be wasted.
Nineveh province includes some towns disputed between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi federal government, such as Makhmour and the Yazidi heartland of Shingal.
In Diyala province, which includes the Kurdish towns of Khanaqin and Jalawla, Kurds won only one seat out of a possible 15, as the KDP, PUK, and the KSDP entered the elections separately.
A total of 23,715 people cast ballots for the PUK in Diyala, granting the party a seat on the council, but not enough for a second seat under the Sainte-Laguë system. The KDP received 6,804 votes and the KSDP received 133 votes, which were not enough to earn either of them a seat. Hence a total of 16,680 Kurdish votes went to waste in the province.
With the position of Kurds in Salahaddin weakening over the past few years, the KDP and PUK were pushed to field their candidates in the province under the umbrellas of Arab alliances. KDP fielded its candidate under the Hasm alliance and scored 1,171 votes, but that was not enough for a seat. The PUK’s candidate won a seat with 8,448 votes. The Kurdistan Communist Party fielded a candidate who got 620 votes. In total, Kurds lost 1,791 votes in the province.
The IHEC on Tuesday evening announced the preliminary results of the votes, which are subject to change in the upcoming weeks, but official figures for the number of seats are yet to be released.
A total of 6,599,668 ballots were cast across Iraq during Saturday’s early vote and Monday’s general elections, accounting for a 41 percent turnout.
The provincial councils were dissolved in 2019 in response to demands by Tishreen protesters who criticized the system for its failures and for enabling corruption.
Iraq's long-anticipated provincial elections took place in 15 provinces, excluding the Kurdistan Region. The last provincial council elections took place in 2013, without Kirkuk.
The provincial councils were created by the 2005 Iraqi constitution following the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime. They hold significant power, including setting budgets for several key sectors such as education, health, and transport, but are accused of being rife with corruption.
