BAGHDAD — A case in an Iraqi court filed by the
Hashed Al-Shaabi former
paramilitary alliance contesting its defeat in the October 10 parliamentary
election was adjourned Monday until next week.
اضافة اعلان
Judge Jassem Mohamed Aboud, whose court must
rule on the complaint before final results are ratified and a new parliament is
inaugurated, adjourned the case until December 22 after a procedural hearing.
Shiite Muslim firebrand cleric
Moqtada Sadr was declared on November 30 as the biggest winner of the election.
Sadr's movement won nearly a fifth of the
seats — 73 out of the assembly's total 329, well ahead of the 17 seats of the
Fatah (Conquest) Alliance, the political arm of the pro-Iran Hashed.
Hashed leaders have rejected the result —
sharply down from their 48 seats in the outgoing assembly — as a
"fraud".
Mohamed Majid Al-Saadi, lawyer for the
plaintiffs, told AFP at the court that the aim of the Hashed's appeal was
"to have the results annulled" because of "serious violations.”
According to the
Fatah Alliance, the
electronic voting system had failed to recognize the fingerprint identification
of many voters.
It has also protested at alleged failings of
a new electronic machine used for the election and organized demonstrations.
Tensions over fraud allegations and violence
culminated on November 7 in an assassination attempt against Prime Minister
Mustafa Al-Kadhemi, from which he emerged unharmed.
No group has claimed the attack.
UN special representative
Jeanine Hennis has
noted that "so far and as stated by the Iraqi judiciary, there is no
evidence of systemic fraud.”
After a final court ruling, parliament will
hold its inaugural session and elect a president, who will in turn appoint a
prime minister to be approved by the legislature.
In multi-confessional and multi-ethnic Iraq,
the formation of governments has involved complex negotiations ever since the
2003 US-led invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
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