Security forces arrest group for vote-buying, vandalizing candidate posters

BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces arrested a group of individuals involved in electoral violations, including buying voter cards and tearing down candidate posters in multiple areas, according to a statement from the High Election Security Committee on Sunday.

The arrests followed intensive field operations by the National Security Service and other security formations as part of efforts to safeguard the upcoming parliamentary elections, the statement said. The elections are set to take place on Nov. 11.

“These acts are violations punishable by law and represent an attempt to undermine democratic competition,” the committee stated, adding that they also “negatively impact social peace and the secure electoral environment.”

Legal measures have been taken against those arrested, while intelligence and field teams continue proactive efforts to monitor and respond to any illegal activity targeting the electoral process, the statement added.

The committee urged citizens and stakeholders to “respect electoral laws and regulations” and called for the immediate reporting of violations “through official channels.”

National Security Service arrested 46 people accused of buying and selling voter identification cards in October and seized 1,841 cards during operations across three governorates.

In late August, Iraq’s Federal Integrity Commission said it arrested a parliamentary election candidate and four of his aides in Baghdad on charges of buying voter cards in exchange for promises of government jobs or social welfare stipends.

Earlier this year, Iraqi security forces in Nineveh arrested a man accused of trafficking more than 1,100 voter ID cards- a tactic used in election fraud schemes to cast ballots using stolen identities, suppress turnout, or provide proof in vote-buying deals. Some cards are also used with complicit officials to inflate vote counts using real voter data.

Earlier, Hogir Chato, general coordinator of the Shams Network for Election Monitoring, told AlSharqiya that vote buying in Iraq has become more public, coercive, and widespread in the lead-up to the parliamentary elections — with some regions seeing what he described as the “purchase of entire candidates.”

“There is no buying of election cards; rather, it is vote buying,” he said. “A card is useless without its holder and cannot be used for voting on its own.”