Annulling election results, ordering manual recount ‘unconstitutional’: Masum

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iraqi parliament’s decision to annul election results in some provinces and to order a manual recount of some polling stations is unconstitutional, according to Iraqi President Fuad Masum.

The Iraqi president, as the guardian of the constitution, has also called on the Supreme Federal Court to rule on the legality of the Council of Ministers’ decision to form a committee to investigate measures taken by the independent election commission.

“The Republic’s Presidency sees that this decision violates the constitution and the law of the commission. An overture has been made for the federal court to declare their opinion concerning that,” reads a letter from the president’s office to the electoral commission on May 30.

The Iraqi parliament barely met the legal quorum when it convened on Monday to discuss its response to allegations of fraud in the May 12 Iraqi election. 

MPs annulled the votes of the Iraqi diaspora and IDPs, except for those in Nineveh. It also demanded the manual recount of 10 percent of votes in provinces where electronic hard disks were allegedly swapped, stations in Kirkuk, and stations where results have been annulled in the disputed territories. 

If the disparity between electronic and manual counting exceeds 25 percent, then the entire country will be subject to a manual recount.

Many parties have rejected the parliament’s decision, saying it does not have the authority to order such measures. The election commission meanwhile has warned that cancelling the results could even lead to civil war. The commission itself annulled results from more than 1,000 polling stations on Wednesday.

The Council of Ministers has announced it will form a supreme committee composed of the judiciary, the Integrity Commission, the Auditing Department, intelligence, and other branches of the Iraqi government to supervise the decisions of the election commission.

Masum has asked the federal court whether the move is constitutional. 

“We are referring to the Supreme Federal Court to declare how constitutional the decision taken by the Council of Ministers on May 24, and whether taking such a decision is within the jurisprudence of the Council of Ministers,” reads the letter sent by the presidency, also dated May 30.

Iraq’s May 12 election produced some unexpected results, leading many to claim the process had been rigged. A number of Kurdish opposition parties have demanded a manual recount or a re-run of the election in the Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories.

Gorran MP Hoshyar Abdullah has lashed out at the president’s objections, accusing Masum of being in a deep sleep for the last four years.

“He has woken up to defend the fraud of Iraq’s May 12 parliamentary elections,” Abdullah said in a Facebook post.

He accused the president, a co-founder of the PUK, of merely objecting the parliament’s decision to protect his party’s strong election result.

Hassan Turan, deputy head of the Turkmen Front, also slammed the president’s intervention. 

“The president of the republic has to stand at the same distance from every component. The president of the republic slipping towards his party makes citizens lose confidence in this constitutional institution,” said Turan in a statement.

Last updated 11.45 A.M.