The head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, Hennis Plasschaert, responded to her critics who reject the results of the parliamentary elections, and said that some describe her as old and older than her.

Plasschaert said - in statements during a speech at a women's conference in Erbil on Sunday - that "she was the first minister of defense in the Netherlands, and the first representative of the Secretary-General in Iraq, and today there are those who say about me an old woman, and he is older than me."

She added, "According to the preliminary results in the Iraqi parliament, a large number of women candidates have become members of the Iraqi parliament, with a rate of more than 25%, and this is a necessity, and not just a matter of happiness," and she continued, "Let's be more frank, women's rights have not yet been achieved in Iraq." We have a lot ahead, there must be more reforms here."

Plasschaert is under criticism from the Shiite forces rejecting the election results, the latest of which was a statement issued on Friday by the organizing committee for demonstrations and sit-ins organized by the supporters of these forces in front of the two gates of the Green Zone in central Baghdad, and demanded that it stop its work and expel it from the country.

The statement also demanded that the United Nations be formally addressed to the need to replace all the cadres of its representation in Iraq, as this is a popular demand that does not represent the masses of those rejecting the results of fraud only, but also represents all Iraqis.

Al-Amiri accused Plasschaert of interfering in the parliamentary elections and their results (Reuters)

Senior delegate

Prior to that, yesterday, the leader of the Al-Fateh Al-Amiri Alliance accused the UN envoy of interfering in the parliamentary elections and their results, considering that she was behaving like a supreme delegate.

Al-Amiri said - during his meeting in his office with the European Union Ambassador to Iraq Phil Variola last Wednesday - that "the recent parliamentary elections are the worst since 2003, and that proceeding with their fraudulent results in this way is an undermining of the democratic process in Iraq," according to a statement by his office.

The attack on Blackshart comes after she said during a video briefing to the UN Security Council on Tuesday that there is no evidence of fraud in the Iraqi elections, and that the authorities and parties must acknowledge the results, warning that "false accusations and threats of violence will lead to dire results." .

Blackshart added that the Iraqi elections "were painstakingly organized and well-managed thanks to the efforts of the Independent High Electoral Commission, and represent a step towards restoring Iraqis' confidence in their government."

Mrs. @JeanineHennis Briefing the UN Security Council on #Iraq: The assessment of the elections was that they were generally quiet, well-managed and showed clear technical and procedural improvement.

It represented, in general, a great achievement that the Iraqi authorities and parties would be happy to acknowledge publicly.

pic.twitter.com/vvrScZpJmS

— UNAMI (@UNIraq) November 23, 2021

The "Al-Fateh" coalition - a political umbrella for the factions affiliated with the Iraqi Popular Mobilization - is the main loser in the recent elections, by obtaining 16 seats, after it came second with 48 seats in the 2018 elections.


According to these results, the "Sadr bloc" came at the forefront of the winners. With 73 seats out of 329, emerging parties and independent personalities won about 40 seats, while the "Progress" bloc led by dissolved Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi won 38 seats, followed by the State of Law bloc led by former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki with 34 seats.

As for the National State Forces Alliance headed by Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Wisdom Movement allied with the Victory Alliance headed by former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (2014-2018), it recorded the “largest decline” in the number of seats among other Shiite lists and alliances, with both receiving 4 seats, compared to In the previous election cycle, the "Victory" coalition won 21 seats, and the Wisdom Movement won 19 seats.

It is noteworthy that the Electoral Commission in Iraq completed last Thursday the manual recounting of all electoral stations that the Judicial Authority for Elections requested verification, based on appeals and complaints submitted by blocs, parties and candidates opposing the election results.

The commission explained that "the result of the ongoing manual counting and sorting is 100% identical to the results of the electronic counting and sorting for the legislative elections that were held on October 10."

The Commission is scheduled to announce the final results of the elections in the coming days, in preparation for the ratification of the Federal Supreme Court to be final and conclusive.