Iraqi authorities begin manual recount of votes from more than 2,000 polling stations

Iraq’s electoral commission has begun a manual recount of votes from polling stations where appeals against election results were accepted.

Final results have yet to be announced almost three weeks after Iraqis cast their parliamentary election votes on October 10.

The commission received thousands of complaints from political parties, candidates and members of the public about early results that showed populist Moqtada Al Sadr was in the lead.

“Manual counting began at eight in the morning,” the commission said on Wednesday.

More than 2,000 polling stations in several governorates are expected to manually recount votes.

“Out of the 2,000 stations, 102 are from the northern province of Nineveh,” the commission said.

“Fifty observers and agents will be following up the progress of the recount.”

Monday is the deadline for the commission to finalise its review of the complaints.

Last week, the commission said it had received 1,372 appeals contesting the results.

In a progress report on Sunday, it said it had assessed 483 complaints but rejected 461.

The 22 complaints accepted are in 13 provinces.

Once all appeals are cleared, the election results will be sent to the High Federal Court for ratification, after which President Barham Salih will have 15 days to call a new parliament.

Initial electoral results showed that Mr Al Sadr’s party won 73 seats in the 329-member parliament.

He campaigned as a nationalist, as well as a critic of Iran and foreign intervention.

The electoral commission said at least 167 parties and more than 3,200 candidates had competed for the 329 seats.

Hundreds of supporters of Iraq’s powerful Hashed Al Shaabi, a pro-Iranian paramilitary force, began a sit-in near Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone on Tuesday in a protest against what they said was election fraud.

Last year, Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi called an early general election for June 2021, almost a year before the planned date, although the polling was later pushed back until October.

The national vote was called in response to demands made by anti-government protesters, who since 2019 have staged mass public demonstrations.

At least 600 people have been killed by militia groups and, in some cases, regular government security forces.

Monday is the deadline for the electoral commission to finalise a review of the complaints