“Hundreds of violations and unwanted incidents were seen in media and on social networks. Ballot boxes were broken, the commission’s employees and representatives of political parties were hurt and tortured. Hundreds of persons contacted us saying they were threatened and violated, saying the commission’s instructions were being ignored and not implemented,” read a statement from the four dissenting commissioners.
The election commission received 1,045 individual complaints of electoral fraud and violations. Results were released late on Saturday, three weeks after election day as the commission investigated the complaints.
The four dissenters said they had hoped the investigation would “somehow change the results… [but] the commissioners’ council couldn’t do this justice for some personal reasons.”
“The results of the election are not final and complete because they are full of shortcomings,” they asserted.
The four are Abdulsamad Khizir Abdullah and Rezan Hamarashid Kareem, both from Gorran, Sherwan Zirar Nabi from Komal, and Ismael Hama Ali Khurmali from the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU).
The five commissioners who approved the vote are from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The dissenters claimed the commission rushed the final meeting and put the results to a “hasty” vote, ignoring the objections.
The results were released in a midnight press conference.
“We were against the meeting and consider it illegal. We believe this work is unprofessional. That is why we didn’t vote for it, nor do we approve it. We reject it,” the dissenting commissioners concluded.
The Region’s judicial board of elections had earlier ruled that results could be approved by a simple majority of 50 percent plus one, striking down the commission’s regulation that ratification of results needs approval of two-thirds of commissioners. Had the judicial board not made its ruling, the results would have failed to pass.
The PUK, which improved its vote count in this election and whose list head Qubad Talabani outstripped the other party leaders, welcomed the results.
“Taking into account the interests of the people and the responsibility we have, we accept the election results announced. We are now open to discuss the formation of the new government,” said Saadi Pira, PUK spokesperson.
The KDP’s Masrour Barzani, who heads up Kurdistan Region’s security council, thanked voters for having “rewarded” the party.
I congratulate the Kurdistani peoples for today’s election results. You made your voice heard; you rewarded KDP as the party that leads by principles and patriotism. l thank KDP’s team and tireless campaign volunteers for giving everything for a better future- mb.
— Masrour Barzani (@masrour_barzani) October 21, 2018
