Fatah Alliance Calls for Annulment of Iraq Elections Results

Fatah Alliance leader Hadi al-Amiri during the press conference in Baghdad (AFP)
Fatah Alliance leader Hadi al-Amiri during the press conference in Baghdad (AFP)
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Fatah Alliance Calls for Annulment of Iraq Elections Results

Fatah Alliance leader Hadi al-Amiri during the press conference in Baghdad (AFP)
Fatah Alliance leader Hadi al-Amiri during the press conference in Baghdad (AFP)

Fatah Alliance leader Hadi al-Amiri accused the Iraqi Electoral Commission of several legal and technical violations, describing it as "incompetent."

Amiri asserted that the Alliance would follow legal measures and not resort to escalation through protests and demonstrations.

Some Baghdad political observers expect the coordinating framework groups to return to protests to impose their conditions.

The final results of the Electoral Commission showed that Fatah won 17 seats, compared to 48 seats in the previous parliamentary session.

Fatah based its arguments on an old report that claimed the voting machines of the German firm, Hensoldt, were not adequate. Hensoldt was tasked with auditing the devices and software used to count and compile votes of the 2018 elections.

"The election results proved the incompetence of the [electoral] commission to manage it [the vote]," Amiri a press conference.

He indicated the Alliance had doubts about these devices from the beginning, saying the Commission did not submit any report on the elections until the dissolution of the parliament, and this is a legal violation.

The Commission should have handed over the results to all the candidates, but it did not abide by this, said Amiri, adding there is a vast difference in votes handed over to the candidates and the announced results.

The Alliance submitted appeals to the Federal Court with evidence of forgery, and it has six reports on the Commission's violations of the law.

During a press conference, lawmaker Adnan Faihan, a member of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, said that the German company confirmed there were issues in reading voters' fingerprints.

Last week, the Electoral Commission responded to reports about the German company, stressing that there was no election fraud and judicial verdicts are decisive and binding to all.

Member of its media team, Imad Jamil, said that claims about the company were observations reported before the elections.

Jamil explained that the company was brought to the counting center and examined the devices and spare parts, and the producing Korean company processed them.

He stressed that the Commission did not conceal the report of the German company, which indicated that the procedures for opening, closing, transferring, and other related procedures were done correctly.

Jamil also indicated that the Commission responded to several voting issues promptly, and the electoral system's problems did not impact the results.

The company pointed in its report that the Commission addressed quickly and effectively all problems, which allowed the verification of data inputs and outputs on multiple levels, Jamil noted, stressing that no foreign party attempted at any time to influence the review or interfere with it.



Palestinian President Abbas Appoints New Deputy in Major Step in Naming Successor

Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, gestures during an interview with The Associate Press at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP)
Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, gestures during an interview with The Associate Press at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP)
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Palestinian President Abbas Appoints New Deputy in Major Step in Naming Successor

Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, gestures during an interview with The Associate Press at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP)
Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, gestures during an interview with The Associate Press at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday named a veteran aide and confidant as his new vice president. It’s a major step by the aging leader to designate a successor.

The appointment of Hussein al-Sheikh as vice president of the Palestine Liberation Organization does not guarantee he will be the next Palestinian president. But it makes him the front-runner among longtime politicians in the dominant Fatah party who hope to succeed the 89-year-old Abbas.

Abbas hopes to play a major role in postwar Gaza. He has been under pressure from Western and Arab allies to rehabilitate the Palestinian Authority, which has limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.  

The PLO is the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people and oversees the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. Abbas has led both entities for two decades.