BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – A top Iraqi lawmaker says he’s confident that last month’s parliamentary elections were rigged, stressing that the possibility of interference by the Zionist regime cannot be ruled out.
There is “certainty” that electoral fraud occurred, the head of the Fatah (Conquest) Alliance in Iraq’s Parliament, said on Saturday, the Iraqi al-Ayyam website reported.
Hadi al-Ameri said he believes voter fraud and irregularities took place via a cyber attack involving the Zionist regime.
“The election fraud was carried out via the cyberspace and its goal was to infiltrate Iraq ... and we do not rule out interference by the Zionist entity,” he stated.
Some 3,600 electronic ballot machines stopped working during the elections and failed to send in results, he added.
There have been tensions in the Iraqi capital and a number of major cities since the Iraqi parliamentary elections on October 10, with several political factions and their supporters rejecting the results as fraudulent.
A total of 329 seats were up for grabs in the elections, out of which Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon electoral list won over 70 seats, while the Fatah Alliance secured fewer than 20 seats, down from 48 in the 2018 elections.
The results, if confirmed, could give Sadr considerable influence in forming the next Iraqi government.
The elections were originally planned to be held in 2020, but the date was brought forward in response to a mass protest movement that broke out in 2019 to call for economic reforms, better public services, and an effective fight against unemployment and corruption in state institutions.
According to Ameri, the confusion existing during the voting process indicated that Iraq’s electoral commission was unable to hold a clean election.
The top Iraqi lawmaker dismissed as unacceptable the attack on demonstrators objecting to vote count results.
In remarks on Wednesday, Ameri said the political forces that dispute the results have been following up on the issue with the authorities.
He stressed that no international party is allowed to interfere in the results of the elections or any other internal issue of the Arab country.
On Friday, Iraqi demonstrators protesting the results of the parliamentary elections closed one of the three gates of the Green Zone in Baghdad, Anadolu Agency reported.
Iraqi security forces ramped up reinforcements at the gate near the Ministry of Planning as a precautionary measure.
The demonstrators erected tents following their attempt to burst into the Green Zone, which includes government and ministries’ headquarters, as well as foreign missions and officials’ residences.
The protesters say that the results of the 10 October elections were inaccurate and are calling for a manual count of the results.