Baghdad - Hamza Mustafa

The Iraqi government has formed a committee to look into allegations of elections fraud, at a time when Parliament failed, for the second time in a week, to convene to discuss the results of the legislative elections, due to the lack of quorum.







The cabinet held an extraordinary meeting attended by representatives of various state institutions, including the intelligence, whose representative did not rule out the possibility of a breach to the system of electronic counting and sorting, which was adopted in the elections.







“The committee, headed by the head of the Financial Control Bureau, is studying reports and information presented at the special meeting concerning the electoral process,” the cabinet said in a statement.







It added that the committee had the right to refer to any party deemed necessary, and to access all documents related to the electoral process inside and outside the Electoral Commission, and oblige all parties, including the High Commission, to submit all available data.







Parliament member for the province of Salah al-Din Mishaan Jubouri announced that the representative of a security apparatus presented to the Council of Ministers evidence of a test conducted by the security apparatus to send a programmer, who was able to break through the electoral system and decipher and manipulate the results.







He added that in light of the findings, the Cabinet formed a commission of inquiry headed by the president of the Financial Control Bureau and included directors of the intelligence and national security to look into the fraud allegations.







On Monday, Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission announced the cancellation of the results of 103 vote centers of parliamentary elections after the verification of dozens of “red complaints”, which are considered as “extremely serious violations that affect the outcome of competing lists at the voting centers.”