The Independent High Electoral Commission in Iraq announced that it had received hundreds of appeals against the results of the parliamentary elections that were held on the tenth of October, while the security forces closed down areas in the center of the capital, Baghdad, with the continuation of protests rejecting the election results.
The commission said that the total number of complaints about the election results exceeded 1,300, explaining that the appeals include 361 complaints for public voting, 27 for private voting, and 9 complaints about manual counting and counting, without further details about their nature.
It is scheduled to resolve the Electoral Commission to respond to the appeals within two weeks from the date of closing the doors for receipt, and in the event of the issuance of the appeal decisions, the results of the elections will be sent to the Federal Supreme Court for ratification in its final form.
For his part, a member of the media team of the Electoral Commission in Iraq, Imad Jamil, denied the news about rejecting all appeals against the preliminary results of the elections, and said in a statement to Al-Jazeera that the commission had received more than a thousand appeals so far against the election results.
Close the green area
On the ground, the security forces closed - today, Wednesday - the Green Zone in central Baghdad, in addition to the two-story bridge leading to it;
In conjunction with the continuing protests rejecting the results of the parliamentary elections.
Anadolu Agency quoted a police officer as saying that the security forces in charge of protecting the Green Zone completely closed the area and prevented entry to it, except for permit holders, and also closed the two-story bridge leading to the area.
The officer - who asked not to be named - explained that the closure coincides with the sit-in of hundreds of supporters of Shiite political parties rejecting the results of the parliamentary elections in front of the gates of the region.
Over the past two days, Baghdad and other southern provinces have witnessed;
Sporadic protests by supporters of the forces and factions objecting to the election results.
The German news agency quoted demonstrators as saying that the vigils and sit-ins will continue until the Electoral Commission announces the re-counting and recounting manually, "and to reveal cases of fraud and manipulation that accompanied the electoral process, and to reassure the audience of the parties and know the fate of their votes."
On October 13, Shiite forces - including influential factions - warned that proceeding with these results threatens civil peace in the country;
This raised fears of a possible outbreak of infighting.
According to the preliminary results, the Sadrist bloc - affiliated with Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr - won 73 seats out of 329, while the Progress bloc - led by the dissolved Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi (Sunni) - won 38 seats, and in third place came the State of Law bloc - led by Former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki - with 34 seats.
The Al-Fateh Alliance - a political umbrella for the armed factions - is the most prominent loser in the recent elections by obtaining 16 seats, and it came second with 48 seats in the 2018 elections.