Nearly 1 million voting cards yet to be collected from Iraq's electoral body: IHEC

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Nearly a million first-time voters and those who did not have biometric voting cards, have yet to collect their cards, according to Iraq's electoral body. Failure to do so makes them unable to vote on November 11. 

Of 3,583,766 new voting cards, 996,750 of them have not yet been collected by their owners, as of Wednesday, according to Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).

The new cards issued for the legislative vote will cover first-time voters, who are of voting age, as well as those who were previously eligible to vote and issued biometric voting cards for the first time.

The highest number of collected cards is registered in Duhok province - 87 percent. And the lowest number is recorded in Najaf province where only 51 percent of the new cards have been collected.

According to the IHEC, voters can pick their voting cards until November 11 - the voting day.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 11, with 29 million people eligible to vote. However, only those possessing biometric voting cards will be allowed to cast their ballots, according to IHEC.