Federal body dismisses all complaints against Kurdistan election results

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region -  Iraq’s top judicial council on Monday rejected all complaints submitted by political parties against Kurdistan Region’s legislative elections last month.  

Iraq's High Judicial Council’s electoral commission informed the federal Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) that it has finalized the scrutiny of all complaints without elaborating. 

Jumana al-Ghalai, IHEC spokesperson, told Rudaw that all complaints have been “rejected.”

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 32 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.