Iraq electoral commission confirms October election results

The final results announced by Iraq’s electoral commission have confirmed Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as the biggest winner in last month’s vote, securing 73 out of Parliament’s 329 seats

BAGHDAD -- The final results announced by Iraq’s electoral commission on Tuesday confirmed Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as the biggest winner in last month's vote, securing 73 out of Parliament’s 329 seats.

A Sunni party headed by Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi came in second with 37 seats, while the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) secured 31 seats, the commission said.

The results also confirmed that pro-Iran factions — which had alleged voter fraud — lost around two-thirds of their seats in the Oct. 10 elections. The faction known as the Fatah Alliance that represents the Shiite paramilitary group known as the Popular Mobilization Forces secured 17 seats, down from 48 in the last elections. Independent candidates drawn from the October 2019 protest movement who ran under the Imtidad list won 9 seats.

Iraq’s election commission received more than 1,000 complaints following the elections lodged by Shiite groups alleging vote fraud. Appeal procedures resulted in only five seats being changed, according to the commission, with the overall result remaining more or less the same.