“The appeals had a strong impact on the results, as the stations canceled by the judiciary changed the number of seats,” Imad Jamil Mohsen, a member of the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
Mohsen added that the commission will announce the results once all appeals are decided by the judiciary. Final results will come within two days of the decision.
Iraq held its parliamentary election last month, and the IHEC announced official preliminary results - which showed the Sadrist movement, Taqadum, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the State of Law Coalition securing the most parliamentary seats - a week later, giving parties the option to file complaints. The commission completed an inspection and manual recount of votes from 4,324 stations that were the subject of complaints on November 8. Most of the appeals were rejected for lack of evidence or detail.
PMF supporters have reiterated their rejection of the results in repeated protests. But the commission’s spokesperson on Saturday said that the commission “will close the file of appeals completely.”
Within 15 days of the Supreme Court’s ratification of the results, the current 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 then elects a new president by a two-thirds majority and, within 15 days, a special task bloc will name a prime minister, who will then select a cabinet.
