Iraq electoral commission says voting appeals process in its final stage

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced on Friday evening that recounting and sorting had been completed at voting locations in the capital Baghdad where claims had previously been made of fraud or other miscounting.  

The commission said in a statement that the counting had taken place "in the presence of representatives of the contesting candidates, international observers, and authorized media personnel."

"The result of auditing this evidence will be submitted to the Board of Commissioners to make the appropriate recommendations in light of the procedures followed," it explained.

On Saturday, ballots in the provinces of Dhi Qar, Kirkuk, Salahuddin, and Nineveh "to resolve their appeals file in full," according to the statement, which concluded by pointing out that "the election appeals issue is in its final stage."

IHEC announced on Oct. 20 that it had received well over a thousand appeals submitted by candidates or others who objected to some part of the results of parliamentary elections held ten days earlier.

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

Two days after the election, IHEC also announced that the final results would be announced in full after the appeals process had run its course.

Some parties, primarily political representatives of Iran-aligned militias, have continuously issued threats of violence in response to their poor showing at the ballot box.