“The IHEC announces that it has successfully finished auditing a total of 3,681 stations whose results were not sent in through the satellites due to technical problems,” the head of the electoral commission, Jalil Adnan Khalaf, said in a press conference.
The head of the commission added that the results are still preliminary and are viable for complaints by the parties.
“We proved to the Iraqi people that this is their commission and is not affected by any political competition, because it is only duty protecting the votes of the people,” he added.
The IHEC has put the official preliminary results online for public access.
The commission on Friday said that they are investigating 356 complaints and will announce final election results after all complaints have been resolved.
Preliminary results gave the Sadrist bloc a wide lead with at least 70 representatives in the 329-seat legislature.
Several parties have alleged fraud. The Fatih Alliance and several other Shiite parties that lost seats said they rejected the results and would appeal them. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) also alleged fraud in Erbil.
Once the results are ratified by the Supreme Court, a process of forming the government will take motion, as dictated by the constitution. Within 15 days of the ratification of the results, the president will call for a parliamentary meeting chaired by its eldest member to elect a speaker and two deputies by an absolute majority. The parliament also elects a president by a two-thirds majority.
The president will then task the largest bloc in the parliament with forming the government, naming a prime minister within 15 days of the election of the president. The prime minister-elect then has 30 days to name a cabinet.
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