Iraq: Federal court to consider election law changes

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD

Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court has set Thursday as a date to look into appeals against legislative amendments under which electronic vote count has been abolished.

On June 6, the Iraqi parliament amended the election law to adopt only the manual count of votes in the May 12 parliamentary election.

“The court will look on Thursday into appeals against the third amendment to the election law,” Iyas al-Samouk, a spokesman for the court, said in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the appeals were filed by Iraqi President Fuad Masum, the Board of Commissioners and the Democratic Party of Kurdistan.

Legal expert Tarek Harb, for his part, expected that the court would not accept all appeals against the legislative amendments.

“The court will take the option that guarantees introducing simple amendments to the election law, but the provision of manual count of votes will remain in place,” he told Anadolu Agency.

Firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon coalition has swept most votes in the parliamentary polls, the first since Iraq declared victory over the Daesh terrorist organization after a three-year war.