ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The final results of Iraq’s provincial elections could be revealed by Sunday as the process of the manual counting of the remaining ballot boxes continues, an official from the federal electoral commission said on Thursday. Local elections were held in Iraq’s 15 provinces, excluding the Kurdistan Region, on Monday. Preliminary results were announced the following day which represented 94 percent of the votes. Hassan Hadi, a member of the Independent High Electoral Commission’s (IHEC) media team, told Rudaw on Thursday that the process of the manual counting of votes started earlier in the day, adding that it could end in the coming days. “As per the commission’s timetable, the process should be done in 70 hours. Therefore, with a strong possibility, the 100 percent result of the votes could be announced on Sunday or earlier,” he said. Nibras Abu Soda, another member of the commission’s media unit, told Rudaw on Wednesday that they had received 118 complaints from the political parties that took part in Monday’s provincial elections without revealing the details. Hadi said they have rejected 25 of these complaints against alleged violations, adding that none of them were categorised as serious. The overall voter turnout reached 41 percent, higher than the parliamentary elections in 2021 despite the boycott by influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The councils were dissolved in 2019 in response to demands by Tishreen protesters who criticized the system for its failures and for enabling corruption.
