Forming parliament

On Friday the IHEC (Independent High Electoral Commision of Iraq) announced the final results of the election: Kurdistani List, KDP/PUK, 59 seats in parliament, Change List, Gorran, 25 seats, Service and Reform List 13 seats, The Islamic Movement 2 seats and Freedom and Social Justice 1 seat.

The IHEC also stated that ballots from 40 polling stations were discarded due to irregularities.

The precidency election was won by Massoud Barzani 69.57% followed by Kamal Mirawdeli 25.32%.

If the participating lists accept the results the parliament will open for its first session within the next 10 days. The lists also have to decide whether they will join the winning Kurdistani List in forming the government or stay in opposition. The KDP and PUK have made it clear that they will not accept criticism from parties that join the government.

The Change List will stay in opposition and are hoping the 4PartyList to join us. That would jointly make us an opposition that has the possibility to prevent the government from passing important laws that demand acceptance from 2/3 of the parliament, in case we object to their propositions.

IHEC announcing results

The head of the Independent High Electoral Commision of Iraq (IHEC), Farij Al-Haidari announced the results of the Kurdish election, speaking in arabic, in a press conference in Erbil at 4.30 PM today.

The presidential election: Massoud Barzani 69.7%, Dr Kamal Mirawdeli 25.3%, Dr. Halo Ibrahim Ahmad 3.49%, Ahmed Mohammed Rasul 1.4%, Hussein Germiani 0.59%.

According to 98% of the votes: Kurdistani List 57.34%, Change List (Gorran) 23.75%, Service and Reform List (4PartyList) 12.8%, Islamic Movement of Kurdistan 1.45%, Turkmen List 0.99% and Communists 0.82%.

Al-Haidari said that he wanted to congratulate the people of Kurdistan for executing a successful and democratic election which was carried out according to the rules of the IHEC. The results of the election therefore show the choice ot the Kurdish people.

Al-Haidari also said that 300 polling stations out of 5300 will be investigated due to the complaints of the opposition, but that will not affect the number of the Parliament seats. The opposition that complained about IHEC not being neutral have the possibility to take their complaints to the international court.
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Please also read Presidential candidate Dr. Kamal Mirawdelis "Open letter to President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Gordon Brown" published today. Klick this link.

Uncertain election results due to fraud

We believe the preliminary numbers reported drastically will be changed. That is if IHEC does its work right. What we heard now is that Gorran (Change List) have 26 000 votes in Duhok governate. But these numbers are unsure and can change. If these numbers are correct Gorran will fill 23 Parliament seats in Sulaymaniya, 7 seats for Erbil, and 1 seat for Duhok.

But these numbers are very unsure. We have filed our complaints of fraud to the IHEC and these will be reviewed in the next few days.

We have heard from a source in IHEC that Gorran votes have been found in the Kurdistani List bundles. When they count they sort votes in bundles of 50 or 100. Maybe they hoped that the IHEC in Baghdad only would count the bundles without opening them and check each vote...

Last night we gathered all complaints from our observers and also wrote those that we had not been able to write directly due to polling station officials refusing to give us the form. We have written statements from witnesses. We had to get new forms from Duhok to be able to write them down. The complaint forms are sent to IHEC Baghdad today.

After all violence that have already begun to spread we plead to our supporters to stay calm and await the IHEC verdict. But if the IHEC disregards all our complaints there will be protests for sure.

Waiting for official results

While waiting for official results we can give you the preliminary results on participation ratio: For Kurdistan 78%. In the three provinces: Sulaymaniya 74.5%, Duhok 85.2% and Erbil 79%.

Preliminary counts on votes for Gorran (Change List) in Behdinan area: 14600 in Duhok province. Of these Zakho, with 115 000 registered voters, Gorran counts for 2605.

We are very disappointed of the results in Duhok governate, Behdinan area. We are collecting all complaints which are being sent to IHEC. We are then going to wait for IHEC to analyze these and also wait for official results of the polls. In my personal view, not speaking for Gorran, I belive that Gorran would have reached 65-75% if the election would have been executed free and in democratic order. This I say through experiencing this election from the inside and through seeing what I have seen.

We are happy for the preliminary results in Sulaymaniya which will be 54-60% giving Gorran 25-30 seats in parliament. Preliminary results for Kurdistan from KurdistanOnLine: 50% for the Kurdistani List, 28% for Gorran and 21% for the 4 Party List. We in the Change List are now in the position of making a change for Kurdistan.