IHEC to conduct manual recount for over 800 stations starting from Wednesday

The Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq has announced the start of procedures for manual counting of over 800 contested stations, starting next Wednesday.

Imad Jamil, a member of the media team of the IHEC, said in a special statement to PUKmedia that the manual counting of the contested stations, which numbered more than 800 stations, will start next Wednesday, explaining that there is no deadline for the end of the manual counting and sorting of stations.

He also indicated that the IHEC has recommended rejection of the remaining appeals, noting that the judiciary will look into the appeals received by the IHEC.

According to the IHEC, If it is confirmed that there is tampering with the stations whose results are appealed, its employees will be referred to the judiciary, and a decision may also be taken to cancel all the votes of the station.

The IHEC announced the final preliminary results of Iraq's parliamentary election last week after finishing the manual count of polling stations that were not electronically counted due to technical issues. It also gave parties the option to appeal the updated results.

The commission has received a total of 1,400 appeals, according to a press statement by Imad Jamil, a member of the media team of the IHEC.

Iraq conducted early elections on October 10 with a low turnout of only 41 %. Candidates were competing for 329 seats in the Iraqi Parliament Council.

The United Nations Security Council on Friday congratulated the Iraqi government on the election and said it welcomes “interim reports that the elections proceeded smoothly and featured significant technical and procedural improvements from previous Iraqi elections.”

The party of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was the largest vote-getter in Iraqi parliamentary elections, according to initial results released Monday.

A count based on partial results shows the Shiite Muslim cleric has won more than 70 seats in the 329-seat parliament.

Meanwhile, losses were booked by pro-Iranian parties with links to the armed groups that make up the fighter network known as Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

Hashd supporters protested near the capital’s Green Zone. In a statement published by Telegram channels linked to the PMF on Friday, the protesters said the electoral commission must "change the results within 72 hours..., or else our protests and sit-ins will take another approach."

The country held the elections months ahead of its time. Early elections were one of the demands of the protesters who took to the Iraqi streets in October 2019 to vent their anger and frustration at the government's inability to fight corruption and provide them with security and stability.  



PUKmedia