SULAIMANI (ESTA) — An umbrella organization of all Shia political parties except for Moqtada al-Sadr’s movement rejected the final results of Iraq’s general election in October.
On Tuesday, the Iraqi electoral commission announced the final results of the October 10 parliamentary election, confirming Sadrist movement’s victory as the biggest bloc, with 73 seats in the 329-seat house.
The Taqqadum Party, which draws support from minority Sunni Muslims, won 37 seats, according to the final results.
Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Alliance won 33 seats, the results showed. A distant second with 17 seats was the al-Fateh Alliance, the political arm of Hashid al-Shaabi.
“Based on the evidence, we underline that the election results were manipulated and we reject the results,” the group known as Coordination Framework said in a statement on Tuesday.
The final results must be sent to the federal court for ratification.
It also called on the federal court to annul the election results, hoping the court “will be free from political influences and be impartial and objective”.
Turnout reached 44%, the commission said, revised up from the 43% preliminary figure but still lower than in the last election in 2018.
More than 9.6 million people cast their ballots in the Oct. 10 vote, where at least 167 parties and more than 3,200 candidates competed for the parliament’s 329 seats, the commission said.
Analysts have warned that – in a country still recovering from decades of war and chaos, and where most parties have armed wings – political disputes could spark a dangerous escalation, according to AFP.
On November 7, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi escaped unhurt when an explosive-packed drone hit his Baghdad residence. The attack was not claimed by any group.
