Iraqi forces and parties said that they are challenging the announced preliminary results of the Iraqi elections that were held last Sunday and resulted in the Sadrist movement, while the High Elections Commission said that it intends to count the votes of 6% of the electoral votes manually, stressing that the results are preliminary and subject to appeal.
The preliminary results announced by the Electoral Commission on Monday showed that the Sadrist movement prevailed (73 seats) out of 329, while the Progress bloc led by the dissolved Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi won 38 seats, then the State of Law bloc led by former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was third with 37 seats.
On the other hand, the results resulted in a significant decline for the Al-Fateh Alliance led by Hadi Al-Amiri, which includes representatives of the Popular Mobilization factions, as it won only about 14 seats, while it came second in the previous parliamentary elections with 47 seats.
Imaginary numbers for some of the winners, offset by the loss of real numbers according to the tapes for other candidates, with the loss of half of the stations of a full circle until the moment.
- Jassim Al Jabara (@JassimAlJabara) October 12, 2021
Al-Fateh Alliance rejected the preliminary results of the elections, describing them as "fabricated", and coalition spokesman Ahmed Al-Asadi said on Tuesday that the coalition's masses have the right to express their discontent and rejection of the results without breaking the law.
Al-Asadi added in a press conference in Baghdad that the objection to the results is not directed at any political bloc.
accusation of tampering
The so-called "Coordination Framework Group", which represents the political participation of Iraqi armed factions, including the Al-Fateh Alliance, said that it will take all measures to prevent what it described as voter manipulation.
As for the security advisor to "Hezbollah Brigades" in Iraq, Abu Ali al-Askari, he described what happened in the elections as the biggest fraud, considering that the members of the Popular Mobilization are the main targets, as he put it.
In the same context, the Islamic Party said that the results of the parliamentary elections are incorrect, and that its candidates were excluded by joint efforts by internal and external parties, and the Al-Fateh Alliance, which described it as fabricated, also objected to it.
In response to political forces questioning the results of the poll, the head of the Electoral Commission, Judge Jalil Adnan Khalaf, said - in an interview with Al Jazeera - that the announced results of the elections are preliminary, and candidates and parties have the right to file their appeals with evidence.
Khalaf added that the percentage of participation in the elections, which amounted to 41%, is positive, although it is less than the ambition, and the announced percentage is the lowest since 2015.
Although it has been the cleanest since 2005 and with international, Arab and local testimony, the losers in it, although they were demanding it a lot, started launching a new propaganda campaign accusing those responsible for it of corruption and forgery!
A serious hanger added to Israel, the American occupation and national sovereignty!
— Kifah Mahmood (@KifahMahmood) October 12, 2021
resort
The head of the commission stated - in a press conference today, Tuesday - that the commission will start tomorrow or the day after tomorrow to manually count the votes of more than 3,000 polling stations, equivalent to about 6% of the votes of the electorate, as a result of the failure of the electronic devices in them during the voting process.
He added that these polling stations represent 60,000 votes, and they will be opened to the media and in the presence of international observers.
Today, Tuesday, the caretaker Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, ordered the army forces to protect the ballot boxes in the warehouses of the Independent High Electoral Commission across the country.
Al-Kazemi’s statement came during his visit to the headquarters of the joint operations of the army in the capital, Baghdad, and briefed him on the progress of the security measures taken to protect the Electoral Commission warehouses and the ballot boxes.
The head of the High Electoral Commission said that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, manual counting of about 6% of the (European) votes will be started.
And earlier today, Tuesday, the commission opened the door for complaints about the election results for a period of 3 days, to be decided within 10 days.
Upon completion of the consideration of complaints, the Commission will announce the final results of the elections, and then ratify them by the Federal Supreme Court, after which the President of the Republic will call Parliament to convene in order to elect the President and the government.
European observers
In a related context, European Union observers for Iraq's elections said that last Sunday's polling was "peaceful, calm and orderly", and chief observer Viola von Cramon added - at a press conference in Baghdad - that 95% of the polling stations visited by EU observers obtained a positive evaluation.
It is noteworthy that last Sunday's elections were early elections, the first since 2018, and were held after unprecedented popular protests against corruption, the ruling class, mismanagement, services and infrastructure.