On Saturday, former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s party dismissed the results of the country’s parliamentary elections as “void” and “illegitimate” based on the low voter turnout of the elections.
Allawi, at a press conference in Baghdad, stated that the few who voted “have no right to determine the fate of the majority that boycotted the vote.”
The Iraqi Civil Front boycotted the polls due to “the lack of a safe and fair environment in light of the continued existence of uncontrolled weapons and political money, and the lack of participation of the displaced and migrants in voting,” Allawi further said.
The elections on October 10 saw 3,249 candidates representing 21 coalitions and 109 parties vying for seats in the Iraqi parliament.
Although the vote was originally scheduled for 2022, political parties decided to hold early elections following mass protests that erupted in 2019 against corruption and poor governance.
Nadim al-Jabri, a senior party official, said less than 20 percent of Iraqi voters participated in the polls, “which makes the elections invalid and illegal.”
Furthermore, he called on Iraqi President Barham Salih and the Federal Court not to ratify the vote results, given that the voter turnout did not reach 50 percent.
A specific voter threshold, for the election results to be valid, is not set by the Iraqi Constitution.
According to the Elections Commission, the turnout in the polls was 41 percent, which is recorded as the lowest since the organization of multi-party elections in Iraq in 2005.
Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s party won 73 seats in parliament, the highest, followed by the Taqaddum bloc of Parliament Speaker Mohamed Halbousi with 38 and the State of Law Coalition led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with 37 seats.
