Report: Iraq Election Commission Changes Results After Militia Threats

 

Decisive Fatah loss reversed after condemning 'incompetence'

by Jason Ditz 

Posted onOctober 13, 2021CategoriesNewsTagsIraq

After a weekend vote, Iraq’s Election Commission trickled out results for the next two days. Final numbers are being changed again, according to reports, after the militias were publicly unhappy with their results and threatened to act. They promised to “defend the votes of our candidates and voters with all strength.”

The Sadrist Bloc won a decisive plurality of 73 seats, while the main militia faction, Fatah, was initially given 14 seats, a massive loss from the previous vote. The militias responded by condemning the commission’s “incompetence.”

To “remedy” this, the election commission began issuing revised results, despite having already done a hand count and confirmed the results. The new results cut Sadrists from 73 to 69, and changed seven independent MPs from winners to losers, so that Fatah could have all those seats. The full final list is not available.

Reports allege that the voting machine figures could be off, causing the recount. The more reasonable supposition is that the election commission wants to avoid any violence by overturning anything close enough to get away with.

Its too early to know if this is going to be enough to change any coalition-making calculations in Iraq, as figures are just starting to come out and no one has near enough to form a government on their own.

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/10/13/report-iraq-election-commission-changes-results-after-militia-threats/