The government on Thursday stressed that Iraqis residing in the Kingdom with expired residencies will not be targeted by police during the three-day election period slated for March 5-7.

“We want to assure the Iraqi guests in Jordan that no one will stop them and ask them for their papers through the three-day election period. The police who will be located at the polling centres will be tasked with facilitating their access to the location in order to cast their votes freely,” Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications and Government Spokesperson Nabil Sharif told The Jordan Times.

Iraqi Ambassador to Jordan Saad Hayyani said that they received guarantees from the government that no Iraqis will be pursued by the police, calling on his fellow Iraqis in the country to participate in the elections.

Sharif reiterated that the government will take all measures needed to ensure that Iraqi citizens in the Kingdom cast their votes safely and smoothly in the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections, stressing that the government will not interfere in the elections and will facilitate the voting process for Iraqi citizens.

According to various estimates, between 400,000-500,000 Iraqis are living in Jordan, having fled their country due to unstable security conditions after the war broke out in 2003, and between 180,000 and 200,000 of them are estimated to be eligible to vote.

The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has called on Iraqis in Jordan aged above 18 years to practise their constitutional right by casting their votes in the upcoming elections, which will last for three days starting March 5, and asked those with overstay fines not to fear the police who will be in the vicinity of the polling centres.

“The government was instructed by His Majesty King Abdullah to allow all Iraqis living in the Kingdom to participate in the upcoming elections. We are not concerned at the moment with any technicalities other than securing a safe environment for them to vote,” Sharif said previously.

Earlier this month, officials representing the governments of the two countries held discussions on mechanisms for conducting the elections in Jordan.

The talks resulted in the opening of a representation office for the IHEC in the Kingdom, which is tasked with overseeing the voting process for the country’s Iraqi residents.

According to the commission, around 1,000 IHEC officials will staff 16 election centres and 150 polling stations in four governorates across the Kingdom. The election centres will be distributed in regions with the highest concentrations of Iraqi residents, including 11 in Amman, two in Zarqa, two in Irbid and one in Madaba.