Shia alliance contests final poll results in Iraq

By Zeynep Hilal Karyagdi Duran

BAGHDAD (AA) - An umbrella organization of all prominent Shia political parties in Iraq except for Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sadrist Movement announced Tuesday that it categorically rejects the final results of October’s general elections in Iraq.

"Based on the evidence, we underline that the election results were manipulated and we reject the results. We call on the Federal Court to annul the election results and hope that the court will be free from political influences and be impartial and objective," the Coordination Committee of the Iraqi Resistance said in a statement.

According to preliminary results announced on Oct. 11, the Sairoon Alliance led by al-Sadr came first in Iraq's parliamentary elections, taking 73 of parliament's 329 seats.

Pro-Iranian factions, meanwhile, saw their seats decrease from 47 in the 2018 elections to around 20.

Shia factions objected to the results, demanding a manual recount throughout the entire country.

Following the opposition, Iraqi authorities began a limited manual recount on Oct. 27 of some of the ballots cast during the elections.

Iraq’s electoral commission reopened more than 2,000 ballot boxes subject to complaints by political parties in the provinces of Nineveh, Babylon and Baghdad in the capital's high-security Green Zone.

-Final results need Federal Court’s approval

The final results of the recount announced by the Iraqi High Electoral Commission on Tuesday confirmed the Sadrist bloc led by Shia cleric al-Sadr as the biggest winner.

The final results will be sent to the country's Federal Court (Constitutional Court) for approval.

Within 10 days after the final election results are confirmed, the new parliament is required to hold its first session and elect a president and two vice presidents.

Within a month of convening, parliament will elect the president, who will name a candidate for prime minister to form the government.

After the election, the prime minister will form a cabinet within 30 days and submit it to parliament for approval.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara