ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Gorran, Komal, the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), and the Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ) have issues a joint statement accusing the Iraqi election commission in Sulaimani of trying to manipulate electronic versions of votes to conceal voter fraud. “It has been two days that the Sulaimani office [of the commission] through its representative in Baghdad has obtained the electronic copy of the vote sheets on a hard disk,” reads the joint statement. “For unknown reasons, it bluffs and shuts off the representatives of the parties. This shows the truth that the reason to prevent the electronic copy of the voter sheets from reaching the parties is an effort to manipulate them and is a serious effort for hiding the fraud,” the parties add. “We will hold the independent high electoral commission responsible due to their silence over the violations,” the four parties say. The commission had agreed to send electronic copies of voter sheets to the parties to alleviate some of the mounting pressure and criticism over allegations of widespread voter fraud. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered the formation of a committee from different government branches in a bid to investigate the claims of fraud. Gorran and the other parties are contemplating withdrawal from the Iraqi political process, as their demand for an election rerun or manual recount in the Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories has not been met.
Kurdistan21-07-2026Canadian oil company initiates temporary production suspension in Kurdistan Region
