Iraq’s judicial council approves bill for nationwide election recount

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq’s High Judiciary Council approved parliament’s Wednesday amendment to the electoral law, saying they will start the selection process of the judges to replace Iraq’s High Independent Electoral Commissioners. 

The judicial council called for a meeting to be held on Sunday “to nominate the judges who will be appointed to carry out the tasks of the commissioner’s council and supervising the manual recount”, read a statement from the judicial council posted on Thursday.

The Iraqi parliament with a quorum passed a bill ordering a recount of 100 percent of ballots manually, canceling IDP and diaspora votes, and the Kurdistan Region’s elections on May 10 for security personnel. The bill also removes the current independent electoral commissioners, and replaces them with nine judges.  

The meeting also aims to nominate judges who would be appointed to head the commission’s provincial offices.

The statement also includes the decision to form a committee made of the chief public prosecutor, the head of the Judicial Supervisory Board, and a judicial supervisor to “move instantly to the electoral commission’s office to facilitate the execution of the task” and to undertake measures to secure ballot boxes and the devices.

The amendment by the parliament also denotes that the electoral judicial board’s task of examining complaints will be suspended until the manual recount is done and new complaints are presented.

The council assured that it won’t allow any party or side to interfere or influence the job of the judiciary, saying they won’t allow any participant of the elections or any related person from being present in the judicial council, the electoral commission or calling any judge.

“The judicial council notifies everyone that the phones of all relevant judges have been shut, asking everyone to appreciate the difficult circumstances that accompany the judiciary’s task in this topic,” the statement adds.
It says it will be neutral, and warns against defamation against the judiciary, saying it is punishable.

Iraq’s High Judicial Council announced on Tuesday that the election law did not permit a manual recount.