The parliamentary elections, which were supposed to take place in 2022 and were postponed, are taking place today in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Voting is held to elect 100 members of parliament, who will then elect the president, prime minister and speaker of parliament.
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq gained autonomous status in 1991.
The parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for 2022, were repeatedly postponed due to disagreements between the two ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of the Barzani faction and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of the Talabani faction.
With opposition parties weak, the two parties are likely to prolong power-sharing, as they have done for more than three decades.
“We hope that a unified regional government will be formed as soon as possible and that the situation of citizens will improve,” said Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraqi Kurdistan, after voting in the Kurdish capital, Arbil.