IHEC - IDPs and Absentee Voting

Absentee Voting for Internally Displaced People

An internally displaced person is someone who has involuntarily had to leave his/her home community but remains inside the country. IDPs are eligible to vote if they are over 18 before or in the month of a particular election, if they have registered to vote and are legally competent

If you are an eligible voter who has been internally displaced in Iraq after 9 April 2003, you can register to vote as an absentee for your Governorate of origin from within the Governorate where you are displaced. You may vote in the Governorate of displacement if you have transferred your Public Distribution System ration card there from your original home Governorate, and if you have registered your name on the Provisional Voters’ List.

If you decide to vote in your Governorate of origin, you can either visit your original polling unit in person on election day and cast your ballot, provided your name appears on the Final Voters’ List; or you can vote as an absentee by casting a ballot at the Absentee Polling Station in the Governorate of your displacement and where you registered to that effect.

The IHEC has established 549 voter registration centres across the country and over 400 mobile registration teams specifically to register IDPs and people in remote communities.

Registration of displaced voters for absentee voting:

If you are listed on the IDP list you must present two official documents (one with a photo ID) at the voter registration update centre;
If you are not listed on the IDP list you should apply to the Governorate displacement and migration office for an IDP status certificate or confirmation letter addressed to the voter registration centre confirming your IDP status and Governorate of origin.

At the Voter Registration Centre, you have to bring documentary proof of your original Governorate in order to be registered to vote as an absentee.

As an IDP you have the right to register family members for absentee voting if you can prove that they are a relative and you can present valid documents for them.

If you are living in the Kurdistan Region you should provide a PDS ration card from your Governorate of origin or a special certificate from the Governorate office of the Ministry of Trade of the Kurdistan Region.

Click here for details about the absentee voting for IDPs and absentee voting for IDPs in KRG.