ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Both the Change Movement (Gorran) and New Generation have threatened to reject the Kurdistan Region parliamentary election results in their entirety if “fraudulent” ballots are not annulled before official results are announced.
“Gorran has filed complaints and has informed all parties. We will wait during the coming few hours to give a chance … for the rigged votes to be annulled and real votes returned,” Shoresh Haji, a member of Gorran’s executive body, told the movement’s KNN TV late Monday.
“But if these rigged votes, which are around 200,000 votes, are not annulled, the most acceptable option for Gorran is the rejection of the whole election process of the Kurdistan Region and its results,” he added.
Official results have not been announced. Kurdistan's election body said it will announce preliminary results late on Monday.
In a press conference on Monday night, New Generation leader Shaswar Abdulwahid said the party would boycott the next session of parliament if current unofficial results are confirmed.
We don’t recognize the outcome of IKR’s elections. We call for Immediate suspension of #KHEC operations as the whole process was rigged. We urge the @UNIraq and Iraqi Federal Government to form a new election board to hold a new election within a year.#RiggedKurdistanElections
— Shaswar Abdulwahid (@ShaswarQadir) October 1, 2018
He accused the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of forging ID documents, stuffing ballot boxes, and annulling the votes of rival parties.
“From here, we announce it to all the people of Kurdistan, that the New Generation movement won’t partake in the fifth parliamentary term of Kurdistan in the current form and based on the current disclosed results,” he said.
“We consider it a meaningless theatre. The KDP and PUK freely tamper with people’s votes.”
“We believe that whatever party or side participates in the parliament is lending legitimacy to KDP and PUK.”
Abdulwahid called for public demonstrations and for a rerun of the vote under UN supervision within the year.
The Shams Network for Election Observation in Iraq on Monday released its assessment of the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary election.
Although the election was well organized and passed off peacefully, the monitor noted cases of fraud and other violations.
The European Union’s Foreign Affairs and Security Policy meanwhile hailed the “peaceful and orderly” election and called on all sides to accept the result.
“It is positive that first reports confirm a peaceful and orderly ballot. Vote counting should now be completed speedily and transparently, the results should be accepted by all parties and any claims of irregularities addressed through the available procedures, leading to the swift constitution of a new Parliament and Government,” it said in a statement on Monday.
