Iraqi election commission recommends dismissal of 322 appeals so far in national vote

Erbil (Kurdistan 24) - Iraq's Independent High Election Commission (IHEC) announced on Saturday that it had so far responded to 322 official complaints it has received regarding parliamentary elections that were held earlier this month.

On Wednesday, IHEC said the total number of appeals sent in by candidates or others who objected to some part of the results of the Oct. 20 vote amounted to roughly 1,400.

Read More: Iraq election commission announces 1,400 appeals contesting national vote results

“Some 340 appeals were presented to the Board of Commissioners today, Saturday, and after completing the necessary investigative procedures in light of the evidence and the recommendation made, the Board recommended the dismissal of 322 appeals for various reasons, the most important of which is the absence of evidence or its violation of the provisions of Article 38 of the Parliament Elections Law," read a statement.

He pointed out that many of the complaints "did not specify the station or center where results were being appealed, as well as the demand to open all the stations of the electoral district or to prove that the announced results match, and these appeals will be sent with a recommendation to the Judicial Commission for Elections to decide on them, in accordance with the law."

IHEC did, however, did decide to approve recounting and manual counting at 234 of the contested voting centers based on 18 appeals distributed across the provinces: Salahuddin and Basra, in addition to Baghdad, as they were supported by evidence.

The recounting, it explained, would be carried out "in the presence of representatives of the competing candidates in these stations, according to dates, procedures, and mechanisms to be determined later and (all parties) notified within an appropriate period."

IHEC concluded that said that it would "continue to consider the rest of the appeals successively, publicizing the daily status of all appeals" every day "until they are all completed."