The Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Army, Lieutenant-General Abdul-Amir Yarallah, said that all security forces entered a state of alert and preparedness in anticipation of any emergency when the results of the parliamentary elections that were held last Sunday appeared, while Hussein Al-Hendawi, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Elections Affairs, announced the end of the process of recounting and manual counting in the centers. The election that was identical to the electronic count.
The Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Army added - in a press conference held in the city of Samarra in Salah al-Din Governorate (175 km north of Baghdad) - that the security forces are ready to secure the situation after the announcement of the results of the legislative elections, and the Independent High Commission announced last Monday the preliminary results, which produced the top The Sadrist movement is the list of competing forces. However, forces close to Iran questioned the results, after losing many seats compared to the previous elections held in 2018.
Anadolu Agency reported - quoting a security source today, Saturday - that the Iraqi authorities deployed large numbers of army and police forces in central Baghdad in anticipation of any emergency prior to the announcement of the final results of the elections. .
Political forces, most notably the Al-Fateh Alliance led by Hadi al-Amiri, had warned that proceeding with the announced results of the elections "threatens and jeopardizes civil peace in the country," which raised fears of a possible outbreak of internal fighting in the country.
Manual sort
In a related context, the adviser to the Iraqi Prime Minister for Election Affairs said in an interview with Al-Jazeera that the process of recounting and manual counting in all electoral centers has ended, and said that it was identical to the electronic count, and Al-Hendawi added that the government provided all facilities to the Electoral Commission, and did not interfere in its work, and said that The elections took place in transparent conditions, and in the presence of a large number of international observers.
The chancellor confirmed the government's welcome for dialogue to solve all problems, but its focus now is on the legal track, by ending the electoral commission's work and announcing the results on time.
The Independent High Electoral Commission had announced earlier, today, Saturday, that 95% of the manual counting in the 3,681 polling stations had been completed.
Imad Jamil, a member of the media team at the commission, said in a statement carried by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), "So far, 95% of the manual counting and sorting has been accomplished in the total number of stations (polling stations) of 3,681," noting that "the total number of complaints has reached 356." ".
On Thursday, the Commission closed the door for objections to the preliminary results after a period of 3 days, provided that it considers the registered appeals within 10 days, starting from yesterday, Friday, and then announces the final results.
Jamil explained that "the results of the manual counting and sorting were identical with the electronic results, and this was done in the presence of observers of entities and international observers," noting that "the results of these stations were added to the preliminary results."
Results Map
According to the preliminary results published by the official news agency, the Sadrist bloc topped the results with 73 seats out of 329, while the Progress bloc led by dissolved Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi won 38 seats, and in the third place, the State of Law bloc led by former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki came with 37 seats. .
The Kurdistan Democratic Party won 32 seats, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan won 15 seats, the Azm Alliance led by Khamis al-Khanjar won 20 seats, and the Al-Fateh Alliance won 14 seats.
The elections were held a year earlier than they were scheduled after widespread protests in Iraq, starting in early October 2019, and lasting more than a year, and toppling the previous government headed by Adel Abdul-Mahdi in late 2019.