Five parliamentary seats changed after a manual recount of votes in Iraq

 In a recent incident, 5 parliamentary seats changed after a manual recount of votes in Iraq. The election took place in October and the recounts of the vote only affected five seats in five provinces. People of Iraq cast their vote for a new government in an early election in October that was demanded by anti-government protesters. 

The chairman of IHEC (Independent High Elections Commission) Board of Commissioners, Judge Jalil Adnan Khalaf, said that the vote affected five provinces: Baghdad, Nineveh, Erbil, Basra, and Kirkuk. He further said that out of 22 million people eligible to vote; only 9.6 million actually did so. As per the report, the final results of the voting were delayed due to a lengthy manual recount of votes. A manual recount of votes was launched by the commission in response to voter fraud allegations made by some parties during the election. 

After the recount of votes, Judge Jalil Adnan Khalaf said, “We’d like to underline here that the commission has been committed in dealing with the results according to the law and in line with the will of the Iraqi people.” He further called the commission’s work “professional” and said the election was credible and transparent. 

With the new results of the vote, the Sadrist movement remains in the lead with 73 seats out of 329.  Sadrist Movement is an Iraqi Islamic national movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr. Sunni Parliament Speaker Mohammed Al-Halbousi’s Taqadum group remains in the second position with 37 seats. He is the Speaker of the Council of Representatives of Iraq since 15 September 2018. Former prime minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law bloc remains in the third position with 33 seats. He was the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014.