Iraqi Electoral Commission announces the resolution of remaining polling stations and the matching of electronic and manual counting.

Arab Sea Newspaper - Follow-ups

The Independent High Electoral Commission in Iraq announced on Sunday the finalization of the results of the remaining polling stations, confirming that the electronic and manual counting results matched 100%. The Commission's spokeswoman, Jumana al-Ghalai, said in a statement that the final results of the legislative elections held last week will be announced today or tomorrow, noting that the window for submitting appeals will be open for 3 days starting the day after the publication of the final results. She added that the Commission will begin calculating the winning seats for candidates from various coalitions, in addition to the quota seats for women and minorities. According to the Commission's data, the voter turnout exceeded 56%, while the "Reconstruction and Development Coalition" led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani showed progress with more than 1.3 million votes, followed by the "Progress" party led by Mohammed al-Halbousi, while other lists such as "State of Law," "Al-Sadiqun," and the Kurdistan Democratic Party had similar results. Al-Sudani is expected to begin his negotiation rounds soon, with a visit to the Kurdistan Region, while the Shiite forces within the "Coordination Framework" alliance have begun intensive meetings to discuss the entitlements of the elections and the formation of the political process for the next four years. It is worth noting that the formation of the new government will require alliances between parties, given the inability of any party to hold a majority in the Council of Representatives, which consists of 329 seats, making the upcoming political process fraught with challenges and may take several months.