Gorran minister says teams to come to Kurdistan to investigate 'fraud'
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq's immigration minister who is a Gorran member announced on Sunday that three commissions will come to the Kurdistan Region to investigate election outcomes, a move welcomed by the PUK.
Darbaz Muhammed, Iraq's immigration minister, wrote on his Facebook that commissions from Baghdad will come "to examine any fraud" in the election polls in the three provinces of the Kurdistan Region.
He did not specify whether these would be from Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) or from the government.
Muhammed is a member of Gorran (Change Movement).
In a statement, Gorran and other political parties including the Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ), the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), and the Islamic League of Kurdistan (Komal) have accused the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of election fraud.
They also asked for a repeat election in Sulaimani, Erbil, and Duhok.
“We will not accept defaming PUK, but we welcome any investigation into the election results," Saadi Pira, the spokesperson for the PUK's Politburo.
Pira pointed out that there were also voting irregularities in Kurdistan's other two provinces, but they are remaining unified.
“[They] have complaints over the election results in Duhok and Erbil, but have not tried to create instability," added Pira.
Some PUK forces opened heavy fire on Gorran’s headquarters in Sulaimani late Saturday night, according to Gorran’s official media.
Video circulated on social media appearing to show the building being shot at by automatic weapons.
Mohammad last night asked all Gorran supporters to be patient in order for a legal process to return their voting rights.
According to PUK media, the party has won in 40 polling stations in Sulaimani city in Iraq's parliamentary election. Gorran claims the electronic voting system has been hacked, and has demanded a manual recount.
The PUK won 21 seats in the 2014 election, second-most behind the KDP's 25. Gorran won 9. The parties put on a united front through the budget negotiations in Baghdad. However, they are an opposition party that withdrew from the KRG in 2017.
Sulaimani has the most eligible voters in the Kurdistan Region with 18 seats up for grabs.
Official election results aren't expected to be released by the IHEC until Monday.
Across Iraq, official turnout was 44.52 percent, down from 63 percent in 2014.
Last updated at 1:15 p.m.