SHAFAQNA – High Electoral Commission in Iraq will conduct a manual recount of votes in a May parliamentary poll only for ballots where electoral fraud was proven in official reports.
According to Middle East Monitor, ballot boxes for the areas in question will be transferred to Baghdad where UN representatives will oversee the manual recount, the commissioners said. The exact location and time of the recount has not been decided, they added.
Iraq’s parliamentary election on 12 May was marred by low turnout and allegations of fraud.
A manual recount of some votes is to take place after allegations that electronic vote-counting equipment was misused. Parliament has replaced the leaders of the election commission with judges.
Ahead of recount, Iraqi police thwarted on Tuesday a plot to set fire to ballot boxes placed at the Trade Ministry warehouses for manual recount .
A security source told Sky Press that “the warehouse guards, in cooperation with a police force, arrested a number of suspects who were planning to burn ballot boxes that were not affected by the June 10 fire.”
According to the source, the suspects were arrested with incendiary materials in their possession.
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