Despite preliminary election result loss, Abadi says ready to form government

Abadi encouraged all political parties and electoral lists that have concerns over the polling process to use legal procedures to contest the preliminary elections results.

ERBIL (Kurdistan Region) – Iraqi Prime Minister and head of the al-Nasr Coalition Haider al-Abadi has expressed his willingness to work and cooperate in forming a stable government free of corruption.

During a televised speech on Monday, Abadi called on all political parties to accept the results of the Iraqi parliamentary elections, expressing his readiness for the formation of the next administration.

The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) had announced the elections results of 10 Iraqi provinces on Sunday night where influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared to be leading the polls.

“We, in accordance with the Iraqi Constitution, will take full responsibility to lead the country, protect it, and defend its unity, interest, and sovereignty until the formation of the new government,” Abadi stated.

He congratulated the people of Iraq and all the winning and leading lists in the elections process, expressing his full readiness “to work and cooperate to build and form the strongest Iraqi government.”

The Iraqi Prime Minister also expressed support for “building a government free of corruption, without ethnic-religious quota and not subject to a foreign agenda, and one that prevents the return of terror and distances the country from regional conflict.”

Abadi encouraged all political parties and electoral lists that have concerns over the polling process to use legal procedures to contest the preliminary elections results.

On May 12, people across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region took part in national legislative elections, the first since the defeat of the Islamic State.

Polls opened at 7:00 a.m. and closed at 6:00 p.m.

Turnout stood at 44.5 percent, according to the IHEC. It is the lowest voter turnout rate in Iraq in the past 13 years.

In the 2014 elections, roughly 60 percent headed to the polls.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany