ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s electoral body has rejected nearly all of the complaints filed against the results of the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections, the commission’s spokesperson told Rudaw on Saturday.
“The judiciary committee today finalized 38 complaints of 41 complaints regarding the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections, rejecting all of them,” said Jumana al-Ghalai, spokesperson for Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
“After their submission, the commissioners' board responded to all complaints within seven days and subsequently forwarded them to the judiciary committee. As a result, the committee deemed the commissioners' board's responses and actions acceptable and valid, rejecting all the complaints,” she explained.
A decision on the three remaining complaints will be finalized this week, Ghalai added.
The Kurdistan Region held its parliamentary elections on October 20 after two years of delays. The vote resulted in a consolidation of power for the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which won 39 seats, followed by its government ally but political rival the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with 23 seats. The opposition New Generation Movement took third place with 15 seats.
The main Islamist parties - Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal) - took seven and three seats, respectively. The National Stance Movement (Halwest), led by popular former lawmaker Ali Hama Saleh, obtained four. Lahur Talabany’s People’s Front (Baray Gal) got two seats, while the Change Movement (Gorran), once a powerful opposition force, took just one seat.
Komal, the Kurdistan Islamic Union, Baray Gal, and Halwest denounced the election results. They alleged fraud and voter manipulation and questioned the reliability of the voting machines.
Komal announced in October that it would not take its seats in the parliament. The party’s leader said there was some external interference in the vote, but did not place blame in any direction.
No instances of misconduct or violations occurred during the ballot counting, according to Ghalai, who said that complaints about the process are normal and the commission receives accusations of “electoral fraud in every electoral process.”