ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) emerged as the clear victor in the Kurdistan parliamentary elections, scoring over 400,000 votes more than its nearest competitor the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), according to official preliminary results announced on Monday.

Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), who administered the Kurdish elections, announced the preliminary results on Monday after tallying up 99.6 percent of all the voting stations. The body said that the ballots from 26 stations were being re-examined for verification.

Out of 2,087,972 ballots cast in both early voting and general elections across all four constituencies, the KDP received a total of 809,197 votes, almost doubling that of the PUK which came in second place with 408,141 votes.

The New Generation Movement (NGM) came in third place with 290,911 votes - a large jump from the party’s results in the 2018 elections in which it received 127,115 votes.

Gorran Movement, which received over 186,000 in the 2018 vote and came in third place after the KDP and the PUK, suffered a massive drop in this year’s elections and received only 11,621 votes.

Erbil

The KDP received the majority vote in the capital Erbil with 345,822 ballots cast in favor of the ruling party, over 235,000 more than its nearest competitor the PUK, which gained 110,353 votes. The NGM came in a close third in Erbil with 103,684 votes.

Muna Kahveci, the second deputy speaker of the parliament in its previous term, received 3,664 votes in the elections, securing her place as the winner of the Turkmen minority quota seat.

The Christian minority quota seat will go to Ankawa district mayor Ramy Noori Syawish who scored 6,752 votes.

A total of 1,023,606 people were eligible to vote in Erbil which saw a turnout rate of 74 percent. A total of 13 stations have yet to finalize the count and are being re-examined by the IHEC.

The votes for the remaining big parties were as follows:

The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU): 24,065

Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal): 20,191

Halwest (Stance) Movement: 16,736

The People’s Front: 9,735

Kurdistan Region Alliance: 3,458

Gorran: 1,455

Sulaimani

The PUK came out as the main party in Sulaimani province after gaining 256,813 votes, followed by the NGM which gained over 136,131 votes, and the KDP with 57,832 votes.

Dana Amanj Najib Shamoun secured the Christian minority quota seat after receiving 6,200 votes, while the Turkmen quota seat was picked up by Najdat Nouri Mohammed Arab who gained 5,660 votes.

A total of 1,087,192 people were eligible to vote in Sulaimani which saw a turnout rate of 65 percent. A total of 6 stations have yet to finalize the count and are being re-examined by the IHEC.

The votes for the remaining big parties were as follows:

The KIU: 42,622

Komal: 36,627

Halwest: 29,346

The People’s Front: 20,300

Gorran: 9,721

Kurdistan Region Alliance: 8,372

Duhok

The KDP dominated the polls in Duhok province with over 400,603 votes received. Its nearest competitions, the NGM and the KIU, received 46,444 and 42,447 votes respectively.

The PUK came in fourth place in Duhok after receiving 28,445 votes.

James Hasdo Hido Dawood secured the Christian minority quota seat with 5,533 votes.

A total of 722,397 people were eligible to vote in Duhok which saw a turnout rate of 78 percent. A total of 7 stations have yet to finalize the count and are being re-examined by the IHEC.

The votes for the remaining big parties were as follows:

Halwest: 8,410

Komal: 3,677

The People’s Front: 2,607

Kurdistan Region Alliance: 851

Gorran: 248

Halabja

The race for Halabja's three seats saw the PUK as the top party with 12,530 votes, followed by the KIU with 7,847, and the KDP with 4,940.

There are no minority quota seats allocated for Halabja province.

A total of 41,671 people were eligible to vote in Halabja which saw a turnout rate of 69 percent. All stations have been tallied.

The votes for the remaining big parties were as follows:

NGM: 4,732

Komal: 4,215

Islamic Movement of Iraqi Kurdistan: 1,596

Halwest: 1,283

The People’s Front: 725

Kurdistan Region Alliance: 518

Goran: 197

The New Region’s projection

Based on the voter turnout and official preliminary results, The New Region projects that the KDP will walk away with 39 seats after the parliamentary elections, followed by the PUK with 23, and NGM with 15.

The KIU is expected to obtain seven seats in the legislature, Halwest will have four representatives, Komal will get three spots, two seats for the People’s Front, while the Kurdistan Region Alliance and Gorran will each get one seat.

The KDP will receive 17 seats out of the 32 non-quota seats allocated for Erbil province, followed by the PUK with six seats, and NGM with five seats. The People’s Front, the KIU, Komal, and Halwest will each receive one seat.

The PUK will score 15 seats out of the 36 non-quota allocated for Sulaimani province, followed by NGM with eight, and the KDP and KIU with three each. The remaining seats will be distributed as such: Two for Halwest, two for Komal, one for People's Front, one for Gorran, and one for Kurdistan Region Alliance.

The KDP will get 18 seats out of the 24 non-quota seats allocated for Duhok province, followed by the KIU and NGM with 2 seats each. The PUK and Halwest will each get one seat as well.