Officials from various Iraqi security agencies headed for the ballots on Thursday, casting their votes in the first wave of the much anticipated parliamentary elections. Early voting was opened for both Iraq’s military and diaspora on Thursday. For the first time, the Iraqi communities abroad are able to head for an early vote, which took place a day ahead of the national general election.  Almost 900,000 people are eligible to vote abroad. Polling stations have opened in 21 countries, including Jordan, Turkey, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Egypt, Denmark, Holland, the UK, Germany, Canada, the USA, Sweden, Australia, Norway, Austria, Finland, Belgium, and New Zealand, according to the Iraqi electoral commission. Political parties sought claiming an early victory backed by rallying expatriate and military voters, but the Independent High Electoral Commission denied this and indicated that it will not be counting votes until after the election window is closed. Meanwhile, incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi exchanged accusations with the western Iraqi Anbar province Governor Mohammed al-Halbusi. Each of the two blamed the other over exploiting state resources for campaigning. “The prime minister has directed the Interior Ministry to conduct an urgent investigation into the use of the state resources and local police by the Anbar governor during his election campaign,” read a statement issued by Abadi’s office.  On the other hand, head of the National Movement for Development and Reform party and the Iraqi List coalition in the Council of Representatives of Iraq Jamal Al-Karboli announced filing for an investigation on Abadi’s campaign spending sources, and the suspicion on the PM using national army aircraft and government vehicles to promote his campaign. The average cost of a flight stands at $200,000, and Abadi visited Mosul, Najaf, Basra, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah and several provinces using a military aircraft, Karbouli argues. Abadi is angling for a new term as he takes credit for the fightback against ISIS.