Ex-Iraq VP slams ‘dubious acts’ by electoral commission

By Ibrahim Saleh

BAGHDAD (AA) - Iyad Allawi, former Iraqi vice-president and head of the Al-Wataniya coalition, has criticized what he described as “dubious” actions by Iraq’s official electoral commission in regards to May 12 parliamentary polls.

According to Allawi, these actions had raised “serious questions about the legitimacy of the electoral process”.

He believes the commission made a “major mistake” by delaying the announcement of final poll results and failing to immediately provide Iraq’s various political powers with hard disks containing the vote results.

He also said that the May 12 election had lost considerable credibility due to malfunctioning electronic voting machines, the transfer of poll results via satellite and other reported irregularities.

Allawi went on to assert that the electoral commission lacked “professional standards and independence”.

On Monday, the commission announced it had annulled all ballots cast at 103 polling stations in the Baghdad, Anbar, Nineveh, Saladin and Erbil provinces.

It did not say to what extent the move was expected to affect final poll results, which were announced late last week.

According to those results, Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon coalition won 54 seats in parliament, followed by a Hashd al-Shaabi-led coalition (47 seats) and Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s Victory bloc (42 seats).

The Erbil-based Kurdistan Democratic Party, for its part, picked up 25 seats in the assembly.

Final results were announced several days after Iraqis voted in the country’s first parliamentary poll since the Daesh terrorist group was defeated late last year.

Preliminary results had been announced days earlier, but widespread fraud allegations had reportedly delayed a final vote count.