Iraq Election Commission Promises ‘Strong’ Changes to Vote Results

Sadr condemns pressure to change results

Recounts were finished a month ago, and internationally there are calls to respect the results of Iraq’s election. The Election Commission though says the results are about to be “strongly affected” by legal challenges.

The Shi’ite militia party Fatah was very publicly unhappy with losing the election. Now, after weeks of threats and condemnations, the expectation is that they will be faring better soon.

The Sadrist bloc won the plurality with 70 seats, while Fatah won 14. The commission suggested new results in the next couple of days.

Moqtada al-Sadr was critical of the pressures to change the results. It’s easy to see why, as he’s likely to lose seats to placate Fatah.

Either way, it’s highly unlikely that any party will come out of the vote with a chance at forming a government.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.