UN calls on Iraq to probe election complaints

Envoy to Baghdad tells government to ‘seriously address’ electoral disputes in first national vote since Iraq declared victory over IS

An Iraqi voter has his biometric voting card checked with his fingerprint upon arriving at a poll station in the northern multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk on May 12, 2018, as the country votes in the first parliamentary election since declaring victory over the Islamic State (IS) group. (AFP PHOTO / Marwan IBRAHIM)
An Iraqi voter has his biometric voting card checked with his fingerprint upon arriving at a poll station in the northern multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk on May 12, 2018, as the country votes in the first parliamentary election since declaring victory over the Islamic State (IS) group. (AFP PHOTO / Marwan IBRAHIM)

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The UN has called for Iraq’s electoral commission to “immediately and fully” investigate complaints by candidates and parties over the conduct of this month’s legislative elections.

“The commission has to act expeditiously in order to seriously address all complaints,” the UN’s envoy to Iraq, Jan Kubis, said in a statement on Thursday.

The final results of Iraq’s elections confirmed Saturday a breakthrough for nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who was in the lead, ahead of internationally favored prime minister Haider al-Abadi.

But the possibilities for alliances to form a coalition government remain wide open.

None of the three leading groups won more than 55 of the 329 seats up for grabs in parliament at the May 12 vote, which saw record high abstentions with just 44.52 percent turnout — the lowest since the first multiparty elections in 2005.

Iraqi Shiite cleric and leader Moqtada al-Sadr, center-left, shows his ink-stained index finger and holds a national flag while surrounded by people outside a polling station in the central holy city of Najaf on May 12, 2018. (Haidar HAMDANI/AFP)

In a system calibrated to divide parliament after the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein following the American-led invasion of 2003, Moqtada Sadr’s Marching Towards Reform alliance is far from assured of governing Iraq for the next four years.

The United Nations cited partial recounts in some locations, including Kirkuk.

“It is important these are undertaken in full transparency, witnessed by stakeholders, to strengthen… confidence in the process,” said Kubis.

Several complaints have been lodged in Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic province which the central government has recently taken over from the Kurds.

Disputes between Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen communities led to a curfew being imposed in Kirkuk city on the night of the vote, with clashes and sit-in protests.

“I also call on all political actors to uphold the peace and to remain committed to resolving any electoral disputes through the established legal channels,” Kubis added.

Iraqi women queue at a polling station in the Wadi Hajar district of Mosul on May 12, 2018, still partially in ruins from the devastating months-long fight to oust the Islamic State (IS) group. ( AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)

Former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose Rule of Law Alliance falls behind the top three blocs in the partial results, has called for the commission to recount votes or cancel the elections.

The vote, the first in Iraq since the government declared victory against the Islamic State group in December, is also the first to have taken place without significant political violence since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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