Iraq: 847 candidates register to run in elections

26 Apr 2021; MEMO: Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission said yesterday that 847 candidates have registered to run in the upcoming early parliamentary elections scheduled for October, Anadolu reported.

The commission added in a statement that 22 political alliances and 13 political coalitions have also expressed their desire to participate in the upcoming elections.

The statement did not give further details about the names of the coalitions or their affiliations.

According to the statement, the registration deadline to participate in the elections is on 1 May.

More than 25 million Iraqis are entitled to vote.

Elections are a key demand of the popular protests which erupted in October 2019 and led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi.