Vote recount begins under watch of parties
KIRKUK, Iraq – The manual recount of votes in Iraq’s parliamentary election began on Tuesday in Kirkuk.
“Every party has sent two people to monitor the recount process. We as the PUK have two people there,” Rawand Mala Mahmud, deputy head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Kirkuk, told Rudaw.
Their party will be closely monitoring the recount process because they suspect the ballot boxes of Kirkuk were tampered with, he explained.
In the disputed results, the PUK won half the seats up for grabs in Kirkuk.
Only Iraq’s state TV has been granted access to the recount. Other media have been denied entry, AFP reported.
There was an attempted attack on a warehouse storing ballots in Kirkuk on Sunday. A suicide bomber blew up a car bomb outside the gates. None of the ballots were damaged, according to officials.
The parliament ordered a full manual recount of 100 percent of ballots after complaints of electoral fraud in the May 12 vote.
The former parliament’s term expired on June 30. A new government cannot be formed until the election results are ratified.
“Every party has sent two people to monitor the recount process. We as the PUK have two people there,” Rawand Mala Mahmud, deputy head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Kirkuk, told Rudaw.
Their party will be closely monitoring the recount process because they suspect the ballot boxes of Kirkuk were tampered with, he explained.
In the disputed results, the PUK won half the seats up for grabs in Kirkuk.
Only Iraq’s state TV has been granted access to the recount. Other media have been denied entry, AFP reported.
There was an attempted attack on a warehouse storing ballots in Kirkuk on Sunday. A suicide bomber blew up a car bomb outside the gates. None of the ballots were damaged, according to officials.
The parliament ordered a full manual recount of 100 percent of ballots after complaints of electoral fraud in the May 12 vote.
Judges appointed to oversee the process after complaints about the electoral commission, however, have said recounts will be done only of the polling stations that have been subject to complaints by political parties.
The former parliament’s term expired on June 30. A new government cannot be formed until the election results are ratified.