Iraq Political News: Iraq announces election results for most provinces

The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) on Saturday (May 6th) announced the final results of local elections held April 20th in most provinces.

In Anbar and Ninawa provinces, where elections are scheduled for July 4th, preparatory work has begun, officials told Mawtani.

Among the 13,571,192 registered voters in provinces where elections were held April 20th, 6,116,897 cast ballots, said Sarbast Mustafa, chairman of the board of commissioners at the IHEC.

The board of commissioners ratified the results after ballots were sorted and counted under supervision and monitoring by local and international organisations and political parties, he said.

Candidates were allowed to contest the results before a judicial board until Wednesday, said Meqdad al-Sharifi, director of the IHEC’s electoral department, and now the results are final and ratified.

In this election cycle, the IHEC received 220 complaints about voting violations, which judges investigated, he said. As a result, a number of electoral stations where violations took place were closed and some officials at those stations were referred to the courts on charges of manipulation.

IHEC spokesman Safaa al-Musawi said 25% of women candidates were elected based on the distribution quota system and an allocated percentage for women to serve in local governments.

The IHEC is now preparing the technical and administrative details needed to conduct local elections in Anbar and Ninawa, which were postponed due to security situation in the two provinces, he said.

DETAILED RESULTS

In the race for the 58 seats on the Baghdad provincial council, the State of Law Coalition came out on top with 20 seats, Mustafa said. Other parties including the United List, the Citizen Coalition and the Ahrar Coalition received more than five seats each.

In Salaheddine Province, which has a total of 29 seats, the Iraqi Masses Coalition topped the list with seven seats, followed by the United List and the Iraqi Asala Coalition, both of which received five seats. Meanwhile in Diyala province, the Diyala National Alliance won 12 of the 29 seats under contest, followed by the Diyala Iraqiya List with 10 seats.

The State of Law Coalition gained the most seats in Karbala, winning seven out of the 27 seats available, while the Ahrar Coalition came in second with four seats. It likewise led in Babil province with eight seats out of 31, followed by the Citizen Coalition with seven seats.

In al-Qadissiya, the State of Law Coalition won eight of 28 seats, followed by the Citizen Coalition with five. The State of Law Coalition also won 16 out of 35 seats in Basra province, followed by the Citizen Coalition with six.

In Dhi Qar province, which has 31 seats, the State of Law Coalition came out first by winning 10 seats, followed by the Citizen Coalition with seven and the Ahrar Coalition with five. Al-Muthanna province has 26 seats, of which the State of Law Coalition won eight, and the Citizen Coalition seven.

In Najaf province, the Loyalty to Najaf List came out first, winning nine out of 29 seats, followed by the Citizen Coalition with six seats and the State of Law Coalition with five seats.

Maysan province saw the Ahrar Coalition win nine out of 27 seats, followed by the State of Law Coalition with eight seats and the Citizen Coalition with six seats.

In Wasit province, the State of Law Coalition and the Citizen Coalition each won seven seats, followed by the Ahrar Coalition with five.

Source: Al-Shofra