Iraq annuls ballots cast from 103 polling stations

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD

Iraq's official electoral commission on Monday said it had annulled ballots cast at 103 polling stations during the country’s May 12 parliamentary polls.

The commission attributed the move to what it said were dozens of “red complaints” filed in connection with the targeted polling stations.

“Red complaints” are those related to alleged voter fraud -- such as allegations of forgery and/or manipulation -- that have the potential to affect the outcome of elections.

In a Monday statement, the commission’s board of commissioners said it had looked into 1,436 complaints that had been submitted on election day.

After examining 33 “red complaints”, the commission decided to annul the results from 103 polling stations (out of 53,000 polling stations countrywide) in the Baghdad, Anbar, Nineveh, Saladin and Erbil provinces.

The commission did not say to what extent the annulment of votes from these polling stations would affect official election results, which were released late last week.

According to those results, Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon coalition won 54 seats in parliament, followed by a Hashd al-Shaabi-led coalition (47 seats) and Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s Victory bloc (42 seats).

The Erbil-based Kurdistan Democratic Party, for its part, picked up 25 seats, up from 19 in 2014 polls.

Final results were announced a full week after Iraqis cast ballots in the country’s first parliamentary poll since the Daesh terrorist group was defeated following a three-year war.

Preliminary results had been announced earlier, but widespread fraud allegations had delayed a final vote count.