Iraq’s electoral commission says manual count matches electronic tabulation

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission said Sunday it has completed counting the remaining polling stations from the Nov. 11 parliamentary elections and confirmed that manual and electronic tabulations “matched 100%,” allowing the commission to begin allocating seats and quota positions.

Jumana Al-Ghalai, the commission’s spokesperson, said work is now focused on calculating general seats along with women’s quota and minority quota seats. She said governorate offices have started providing parties, coalitions, and candidates with their results tapes, and that final results are expected “today or tomorrow.”

Once the Board of Commissioners approves the final results, IHEC will open a three-day appeals period beginning the day after publication on its official website.

Sunday’s announcement follows several days of auditing and complaint reviews. IHEC has said more than 100 stations flagged for transmission or counting issues are under audit and that 101 formal complaints were filed across the general and special votes.

Turnout in the Nov. 11 election reached 56.11%, with 12,009,453 ballots cast out of 21,404,291 registered voters across general, special, and displaced-persons voting.