Iraqi Electoral Commission Begins Manual Recounting of Ballots in Six Provinces

Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said on Sunday that it has begun manual recounting of the ballots in several dozens of polling stations in six provinces of Iraq and Kurdistan Region. 

The manual recounting includes only the polling stations which are subject to complaints filed through legal channels by a political entity or election observer. 

The commission said the recounting of ballots in Erbil, Kirkuk, Karbala, Musanna, Qadisiya, and Anbar had already started on Sunday to ensure the accuracy of the previous results obtained from electronic ballot boxes. 

On Monday, according to the statement, ballots from Dhi Qar province will be manually recounted. 

Assistant Spokesperson of IHEC, Nibras Abu Sodah, said a day earlier that the recounting process in Diyala, Missan, and several Baghdad districts had matched the electronic results. 

BasNews has learned that the process will continue until early November before the final official results to be submitted to the Federal Judicial Council for approval.

Following the approval of the Federal Judicial Council, the new parliament will hold its first session and then elect the new president who will later introduce the next prime minister of the country.

Based on political agreement from 2005, the position of Iraqi prime minister is reserved for the Shia Arabs, parliament speaker for Sunni Arabs, and presidency for the Kurds.

According to the uncertified official results, the Sadrist Movement, led by powerful Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, has won the largest number of votes, securing 73 seats at the next parliament. In the Kurdistan Region, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), with 33 seats, is the frontrunner.

The Shia blocs, which are mostly the political wings of the Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi factions, are concerned about the future of their military influence if they lose power at the Iraqi legislature.