The organizing committee for demonstrations and sit-ins rejecting the results of the parliamentary elections in Iraq gave the electoral commission 72 hours to return what it called the "stolen votes", while the leader of the Sadrist movement Muqtada al-Sadr warned against dragging the country into chaos.
The committee warned - in a statement issued last night - that the sit-in would take the measures they deem appropriate to restore their looted right, and called on its masses for what it called persistence and perseverance.
The committee called on the United Nations to withdraw and replace the head of its mission in Iraq, Hennis Plasschaert, accusing her of interfering in the election results, according to the statement.
Supporters of the Iraqi factions rejecting the election results for the fifth consecutive day continue their sit-in near the Green Zone in Baghdad amid strict security measures.
Al-Jazeera correspondent said that the protesters insisted on their demands to manually recount and recount the votes, or to cancel and repeat the elections that took place on the tenth of this month, and to hold accountable those they described as manipulators in the election results, and to refer them to the judiciary.
On Friday, tribal sheikhs from the central and southern governorates demanded - in a press conference in the sit-in square in Baghdad - the re-run of the elections, and stressed the continuation of the protests until their demands are met.
Opposing forces had warned a few days ago that proceeding with these results would threaten civil peace in the country, and this raised fears of a possible outbreak of internal fighting.
Al-Fayyad: The Mobilization Forces are essential to protecting the democratic system in Iraq (Al-Jazeera)
The popular crowd
For its part, the Popular Mobilization Authority expressed its commitment to the law and the protection of the country, while emphasizing its objection to the election results, and its head, Faleh al-Fayyad, said that his forces are essential to protecting what he described as the democratic system in Iraq.
Al-Fayyad's speech came in a meeting held yesterday, Friday, in the presence of the PMF chief of staff and directors of the directorates, to review the most prominent developments in the country following the dispute over the results of the parliamentary elections.
"We are with the legal frameworks to object to the elections, and our work in politics is one thing, and our work in the mobilization is another," Al-Fayyad said.
To date, the Electoral Commission has dismissed 468 of the 1,372 electoral appeals.
It is assumed that all appeals will be decided in the following days before they are referred to the judicial body in the Commission.
pic.twitter.com/g4e8ymSIc7
- Muqtada al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Sadr (@Mu_AlSadr) October 23, 2021
chest warning
Meanwhile, the leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, warned against "dragging the country into chaos and destabilizing civil peace" because of what he described as not being convinced by the results of the parliamentary elections.
He added in a tweet on Twitter that the UN Security Council's endorsement of the election results gives hope that the parties claiming fraud will acquiesce in that democratic process.
Al-Sadr called not to pressure the Electoral Commission or the work of the judiciary and the Federal Court or to interfere in their work.