Electoral Process » Voter Registration

Registration and registration update of eligible voters is an early phase of the electoral process; it’s the most expensive because it is a relatively long and sensitive stage. An accurate, complete, and up-to-date record of voters is the basis of a sound election. 
Objectives of Voter Registration

• Establish voter eligibility: Voter registration establishes who is entitled to vote.
• Election planning: With information from the voters’ list, election planners can accurately allocate polling stations, staff, and materials to each polling center.
• Identification of polling location: The voter is informed of their polling center when they register, cutting down on confusion over where a person should vote.
• Exhibition and challenge: A single national-level voters’ list allows registered voters to check for errors in their or others’ data, and prevents the duplication of voter names in multiple districts. 
• Transparency: Both the process of registration and the exhibition of the subsequent voters’ list are open to the scrutiny of election observers and agents. 

IHEC has the mandate of conducting voter education campaigns to encourage people to register (or update their details) and to vote. IHEC’s campaigns are carried out by its Public Outreach Department in collaboration with Governorate Electoral Offices, the UN and national and international NGOs.
In mid-2008 IHEC’s voter registration update programme saw 2.9 million Iraqis update their details. This represents about 17 percent of the electorate – a favorable comparison with similar exercises in other countries. About 96 percent of all Iraqis were already on the voter registry which was based on the Public Distribution System (PDS) – the food ration database.
When the IHEC realized that there were problems reaching vulnerable population categories and internally displaced people (IDPs), the Commission launched 410 mobile registration teams and a call centre in addition to the 560 voter registration centers already set up earlier.

Click here for details of the IHEC’s “Mobilize the Iraqi Voter Campaign”

Fact sheets on Voter Registration Update

• Voter Registration Update
• Registration for Absentee Voting for Internally Displaced Persons in Governorates not part of the Kurdistan Region
• Registration for Absentee Voting for Internally Displaced Persons in the Governorates of the Kurdistan Region
• Voter Registration Update Complaints
• Political Entity Agents
• Security for Voter Registration Update
• Voter Registration Update in the International Zone

Other documents

• Interim statistics on the registration process, as observed by the Iraqi Democratic Future Network in 280 registration centers in all governorates of Iraq.
• Frequently Asked Questions on Complaints related to the Voter Registration Procedures
• Voter Registration Update Procedures - June 2008