ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has released the final voter turnout report for Sunday's special voting for the country’s parliamentary elections, confirming that participation in the Kurdistan Region's provinces all exceeded 90 percent, marking the highest rates in the country.

Iraq conducted early polling for its parliamentary elections on Sunday, with over 1.3 million security and military personnel from both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region eligible to cast their ballots two days ahead of the general vote.

IHEC data revealed participation in the Kurdistan Region: Erbil saw a turnout of 97.79 percent (112,386 voters), Sulaimani 98.16 percent (108,349 voters), and Duhok 91.66 percent (82,416 voters).

The aforementioned provinces also saw the voting of internally displaced persons (IDPs), with 25,986 such individuals casting their votes in Duhok, 547 in Erbil, and five in Sulaimani.

Baghdad experienced the lowest turnout rate in the country at 70.37 percent.

Nationwide, voter turnout for the special voting was 82.42 percent, with more than 1.1 million people participating across 809 polling centers, according to the IHEC report. Merely 22,764 of Sunday's total voters were female.

The IHEC noted that only four complaints regarding the early voting process have been received so far. 

Security authorities reported that the process was executed smoothly in coordination with the electoral commission, ensuring discipline and stability at polling stations. Army aircraft were used to transport election materials and data to city centers as preliminary results were compiled.

According to initial tallies obtained by The New Region from Sunday's special voting in the Kurdistan Region and disputed territories, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led with 77,381 votes, followed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with 68,891.

Other parties’ preliminary vote counts included: the National Stance Movement (Halwest) with 6,855, the New Generation Movement with 4,126, the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) with 3,748, the Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal) with 1,177, and the People’s Front (Baray Gal) with 982.

The early polling ran from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm local time, with the remainder of the Iraqi public set to cast their ballots on Tuesday.

More than 185,000 security personnel have been assigned to secure thousands of polling stations across Iraq for the parliamentary elections, according to the interior ministry.

More than 7,750 candidates are competing for 329 parliamentary seats under a proportional representation system.