BAGHDAD, Oct 17 (NNN-NINA) – The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), yesterday announced the full results of the country’s snap parliamentary elections, showing prominent Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr’s party taking the lead.
Judge Jalil Adnan Khalaf, chairman of the Board of Commissioners at IHEC, announced the results at a press conference, without giving details on the political entities, or the numbers of seats won by major competing political blocs.
The full results, released after a manual counting of the election votes, have no tangible change from the initial results announced Monday by IHEC.
“The full results are still preliminary and can be appealed to the Board of Commissioners, and the board’s decisions about the appeals can also be appealed to the electoral judiciary board, whose decisions will be final,” Khalaf said.
According to local media reports, initial results showed al-Sadr’s party, the Sadrist Movement, leading with more than 70 seats, whereas former Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki’s party, the State of Law Coalition, securing about 35 seats, in Baghdad and other central and southern provinces.
The Al-Fateh Coalition (Conquest), which includes some Shiite militias of Hashd Shaabi, garnered about 14 seats, while the Imtidad Movement, won nine seats, mainly in the southern province of Dhi Qar.
The political alliance known as Taqaddum, or Progress, headed by outgoing parliament speaker, Mohammed al-Halbousi, won about 40 seats in Baghdad and other Sunni provinces.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Kurdish leader, Masoud Barzani, won most seats of the Kurdish parties with about 32 seats, mainly in Erbil and Duhok.
The Iraqi parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for 2022, were advanced, in response to months of protests against corruption and a lack of public services.
Millions of Iraqis on Oct 10, headed to about 8,000 polling centres across the country, to vote for 3,249 candidates vying for 329 seats in the next parliament.– NNN-NINA
