Iraqi Parliament Speaker Salim Al-Jubouri has called for new elections after ballot boxes were burnt ahead of a recount last week.

Al-Jubouri said the burning of the storage areas where the ballot boxes were kept in Rusafa was “a deliberate and planned crime designed to hide fraud in the election and deceive the Iraqi people”. Elections must be held again as the act of sabotage proves that the results of the previous election were rigging.

According to Interior Ministry spokesperson, Saad Maan, only “a small part of the boxes” was damaged during the fire.

READ: Sadr rejects election rerun, warns of civil war after ballots burned

The Iraqi parliament had asked the Independent Electoral Commission to recount the votes and named nine judges to take over the organisation’s work.

The recount was approved by parliament a day after Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, who’s bloc came third in the election, said there had been serious violations and that most of the blame lay with the elections commission.