SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah said on Sunday it considers the parliamentary election as “an international conspiracy”, criticizing the United Nations for its statement on the voting.
In a statement, spokesman of the militia group Abu Ali al-Askari said the U.N. Security Council’s statement confirmed “what we said that the elections are an international conspiracy in which local parties contributed”.
“We repeat what we said earlier that the elections were the biggest fraud against the Iraqi people in modern history, and this will be proven by evidence and documents,” he said.
Hashid al-Shaabi leaders have rejected the results as a “scam” and said they would appeal, ahead of a final tally expected in the next few weeks.
The results showed al-Fateh alliance, comprised of parties and affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), winning 15 seats, down from 48 they got in 2018.
The big winner in the election, with more than 70 spots in the 329-seat parliament, was Sadrist movement of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
On October 16, several Shia parties toughened their tone, accusing the electoral commission of not correcting “major violations” in the vote counting, and blaming it for “the failure of the electoral process”, warning of negative repercussions on democracy.
“The people of all sects said their words: ‘We will not remain silent on this historical crime, no matter how the sacrifices are,” Askari said.
He called on the group’s supporters to expand protests against the results of the Iraqi election.
Several hundred Hashid al-Shaabi supporters staged a protest near Baghdad’s Green Zone against the results last week, rejecting what they say “electoral fraud”.
On Saturday, al-Fateh alliance also criticized the U.N. Security Council’s statement on Iraq’s elections.
“We were surprised by the statement of the Security Council, which congratulated the success of the elections before the legal appeals are resolved,” it said in a statement.
The U.N. Security Council issued a statement on Friday, welcoming the interim reports that the elections proceeded “smoothly and featured significant technical and procedural improvements from previous Iraqi elections”.
It also deplored threats of violence against members of UNAMI, Iraq’s electoral commission and other organizations.
The European Union also joined the Security Council in condemning the threats, saying “such violent manifestations have no place in a democracy”.
