?Posters of candidates from different political parties are seen in Erbil of Kurdistan, Iraq, on Sept. 11, 2018. The elections campaign kicked off on Tuesday in Iraq's semi-autonomous region Kurdistan as candidates are competing for seats in the regional parliament ahead of Sept. 30 vote. (Xinhua/Yasser Jawad)
BAGHDAD, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- The elections campaign kicked off on Tuesday in Iraq's semi-autonomous region Kurdistan as candidates are competing for seats in the regional parliament ahead of Sept. 30 vote.
Billboards and posters for candidates from different political parties spread in major streets and buildings across the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, Xinhua reporter said.
About 3 million eligible voters are entitled to cast ballots in the elections, as over 700 candidates within 28 lists are vying for the 111 seats in the regional legislature, said the regional Independent High Election and Referendum Commission.
It said the Kurdish political parties will race for 100 regional seats, as minority groups will compete for the remaining 11 seats reserved for them under the quota system.
Early voting for members of the Kurdish security forces, including Peshmerga and the Asayesh, will begin on Sept. 28, it added.
The regional parliamentary elections came five months after the federal government held Iraq's national elections on May 12, which was fraught with allegations of fraud and has yet to result in a new government in Baghdad.
The elections are the fifth of their kind since the Iraqi Kurds established the region in 1991.
