Iraqi commission sends recounted election results to Supreme Court

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced on Thursday that it had delivered final results of the recent disputed national election to the Federal Supreme Court for ratification.

The election, held on May 12, was marred by widespread allegations of fraud. With popular calls for a recount, the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution—later approved by the court—to manually recount votes cast in polling centers about which complaints had been lodged and to annul portions of the national balloting.

After the recount was completed last week, the commission said on Aug. 9 that there was no significant change from results it had initially announced and that all winning blocs maintained the same number of seats.

“The final results of the elections were sent to the Federal Supreme Court for the purpose of ratification,” IHEC Spokesperson Judge Laiyth Jabir Hamza said in a statement, adding that this was done after the Iraqi Higher Judicial Council had considered all appeals against the outcome of the process.

In late June, the Supreme Court also ratified the part of the parliament's decision to freeze the work of IHEC, assigning nine judges to instead run the recount.

“And thus the task entrusted to the Iraqi Higher Judicial Council and IHEC [headed by the nine judges] has been completed,” Hamza added.

IHEC, which oversees elections in Iraq, began conducting the manual recount on July 3, starting in Kirkuk and concluding nearly a month later on Aug. 6.

The commission, according to Hamza, “decided to cancel the recount process for the al-Rusafa district after the ballot boxes, its accessories, and the auditing equipment was damaged in a fire."

Within 15 days of the Supreme Court's ratification of final election results, the newly-seated parliament members are charged with electing a new speaker and two deputies in their first session. After a new speaker is in place, lawmakers have 30 days to elect, by a two-thirds majority, Iraq's new president, who is then given 15 days to nominate the prime minister from the largest bloc in parliament.

The prime minister, in turn, will have another 30 days to form his cabinet, with ministers then referred back to parliament for individual approval. If the effort is unsuccessful, the president has yet another 15 days to nominate another prime minister to repeat the process of forming a cabinet.

Editing by John J. Catherine