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News ID: 53899
Publish Date : 12 June 2018 - 21:29

Iraq Makes Arrests Over Ballot Box Storage Blaze


BAGHDAD (Al Jazeera) – An Iraqi court has ordered the arrest of four people accused of setting fire to a storage site housing ballot boxes from a May parliamentary election, state media said.
Three of the suspects are policemen and the fourth is an employee of the Independent High Elections Commission, state television said.
The storage site holding half of Baghdad's ballot boxes went up in flames on Sunday in what Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi denounced as a "plot to harm the nation and its democracy".
Last week, parliament passed a law for a recount of 11 million votes, following allegations of fraud during the May 12 elections.
Iraqi authorities said the ballot boxes were saved but the fire has added to fears of violence.