UN welcomes 'credible, transparent' Iraq vote recount

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UN observers on Monday praised the “credible” and “transparent” recount of Iraqi ballots this week following allegations of fraud in the May elections.

This now paves the way for a government to be set up.

Allegations of fraud in the May 12 parliamentary vote had prompted Iraq’s supreme court to order a partial manual recount.

As an official announced the checks had concluded, the United Nations said it had observed the recount and found it to be "conducted in a manner that is credible, professional and transparent."

Voters head to polling stations to cast their vote for the Iraqi parliamentary election on May 12, 2018, in Erbil, Iraq. /VCG Photo

"We are very pleased that it's been concluded and we look forward to the next steps in this process towards the formation of the new government," said a statement by Alice Walpole, a UN envoy to Iraq.

Judge Laith Hamza, spokesman for the electoral commission, said Monday that the recount "in all polling stations in Iraq and abroad where complaints were registered has ended."

Officials have not specified when the results will be announced.

The recount will not change the balance of power in the new parliament. Each list should keep the same number of seats announced in May, but the lawmakers elected could be modified, according to experts.

When results were initially announced in May, the anti-graft alliance of nationalist cleric Moqtada Sadr had won the largest number of seats.

The election saw a record low turnout of 44.5 percent, with many Iraqis disillusioned by the political class.

Iraq has seen a month of unrest since protests erupted in the south of the country and spread to Baghdad, with demonstrators rallying against a lack of public services and jobs.

(Top picture: An Iraqi electoral commission employee examines electronic counting machine print-outs in the central city of Najaf, May 13, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP