7 p.m.
The high commission for elections security announces a curfew starting one hour from now, at 8 p.m. and ends at 5 a.m.
6:35 p.m.
Violence in Baghdad
Throughout the day about 100 projectiles slammed into Baghdad and 13 bombs exploded among these attacks there were stun bombs.
38 civilians were killed and 89 others were injured, according to a source in Iraq’s ministry of interior.
6 p.m.
Press Conference for Security Forces
Qassim Atta, the spokesman of Baghdad operations command, said:
"Most of the attacks were IEDs and stun bombs. They intended to frighten the people – But, thank God they failed. All parties bore witness to the competence and neutrality of the Iraqi security forces."
Ayden Khalid, head of the high committee for elections security, said:
"The ballot boxes will be transferred – Rest assured that there will be mixed forces supervising the operation to ensure that no elections fraud is committed. Curfew upon vehicles, in Baghdad was to have been imposed at 10 p.m. but will now be imposed at 8 p.m. in order to guarantee the safe delivery of the boxes to the ballot counting centres."
Atta said: "The polling centre that was targeted in Mahmoudiyah, today, was transported to the adjacent building in the presence of the security forces, the representatives of the parties and the various monitors. And voting resumed normally".
"Many of the attacks were stun bombs. Seventeen stun bombs were detonated in Baghdad today."
5:40 p.m.
- A mortar shell hit a polling center in Mahmoudiyah town south of Baghdad killing one and injuring seven. Elections officials had to move the polling center to the adjacent building.
- The casualties figure for the destroyed apartment building in Shaab neighborhood became 25 killed and injured 19 others
- A mortar shell slammed into Al Sariyah school, a polling center, south of Baquba causing damages to the building.
5:20 p.m.
Eight representatives of the major Shiite alliance left polling centers after not allowing all of them to enter to polling centers. Elections official wanted one to enter to polling center not all of them.
5000 internal displaced living in Diyala couldn’t vote because they were not registered according to elections commission office in Diyala.
5 p.m.
This is the cut-off time for voting. Election officials will allow this still in line to vote, but will not process anyone else who arrives after 5 p.m.
4:50 p.m.
10 minutes to close all polling centers all over Iraq.
4:45 p.m.
In a note to several news organizations, U.S. Maj. Gen. Steve Lanza, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said reports of casualties are exaggerated and urged reporters to check with Iraqi authorities. Lanza wrote, “As the day has progressed, we’ve seen attempts to dissuade voters from going to the polls, but we've also seen those attempts fail. Iraqis are voting and incidences of violence have, for the most part, stopped as of late this morning.”
4:30 p.m.
15 Iraqi killed and 20 others injured, according to Iraqi ministry of defense
Major General Mohammed Al Askari, Iraqi ministry of defense spokesman:
“Gunmen used mortars and stun bombs and the aim was to frighten people and shake their will to go to the polling centers and the truth of the matter only six mortar rounds hit Baghdad, one of them caused damages and the rest were minor and so far casualties stand at 15 killed and 20 injured”
“The armed groups took advantage of the first two hours of day break when the visibility was poor because of the dust and the fog which impair the effectiveness of the drones but after 9 a.m. the weather cleared and the drowns became very effective and the sources of fire were pinpointed from the eastern and southern suburbs of Baghdad.”
“ Since 9 a.m. Iraqi security forces were able to locate and defuse 54 bombs inside Baghdad.”
4:15 p.m.
- McClatchy correspondents in Mosul and Baquba are reporting that more voters are heading to cast their votes.
- Al Anbar - Iraqi security forces closed Ibn Massoud polling center in Ameriya area south west of Fallujah after a hand fight between tribal men and some violations in the polling center, said an official in the center.
4 p.m.
Shams elections monitoring group coordinator Hukar Jeto said: “Our monitors were not allowed to enter to Permam resort to monitor elections and conduct their duty”
Permam resort is the headquarter of the leadership of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the presidency of the region.
3:48 p.m.
Ayn al Iraq, an Iraqi election monitoring group, announced that turnout was 50 percent and increasing for all of Iraq. The independent group is also calling on IHEC, the electoral commission, to reopen some polling centers that were closed in Mosul because of violence.
3:30 p.m.
Sherzad Abu Bakr, a leader in Change movement, the leading opposition Kurdish movement, accused the mayor of Sayed Awa town near Erbil of threatening the representative of Change movement in the electoral commission. He said:
“The official threatened our representative when he protested violations, and later the representative left the polling center out of fear.”
“The Kurdistan alliance is conducting many violations, they are pressuring the electoral commission employees to let those who have not been included in the register to vote and they are using buses to bring voters to the polling centers to vote for the list.”
Mohammed Al Mulla Qadir, a prominent member in KDP, responded to these statements: “Some are claiming there was forging and violations, but the Democratic Party has many supporters and needs no forging.”
He also said: “All the competing lists and entities cannot win half of what the Kurdistan Alliance can win. Who claims there were violations should present a complaint.”
