Kurds Withdraw Re-Count Requests In Tamim and Ninewa

Amongst all the troubling news about Iraq’s political parties inability to form a ruling coalition to govern the country nearly two months after parliamentary elections, one positive story has emerged. The Kurdistan Alliance, made up of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, has withdrawn its requests for manual re-counts in Ninewa and Tamim provinces.

The Kurdistan Alliance won 43 seats overall, including eight in Ninewa, and six in Tamim. After the election in March 2010, the Alliance filed over 100 complaints about irregularities they found. In Tamim for example, they claimed the Arab parties had manipulated the votes there to pull a tie between the Kurdish Alliance and Iyad Allawi’s Iraqi National Movement. When Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki successfully got a court order for a re-count in Baghdad in April, the Kurdish Alliance applauded it saying that would lead the way to other re-tallies in the provinces they wanted. In turn, that led to protests like by the Arab Group in Tamim who said any change in the vote there would lead to public demonstrations, and the undermining of the public’s will. 

The demands of the Kurdish Alliance could’ve opened the door to an endless array of court cases, and officials going through ballots that would’ve dragged out the certification of the election even more, but that has now been averted. On May 3, the Kurdish Alliance said that they were withdrawing their complaints about Ninewa and Tamim. The Election Commission said that they still may have a recount in the town of Hawija in Tamim however. That is one small hurdle removed in the way of forming a new government in Iraq. Unfortunately, the larger problem of who will become the next prime minister is still deadlocked.

SOURCES

Alsumaria, “Iraq panel postpones manual votes recount,” 4/28/10

Al-Iraq News, “Member of the Kurdistan Alliance: Re-count in Baghdad to pave the way for the rest of the provinces,” 4/20/10

AK News, “KA may call for recount of votes in Kirkuk if Baghdad recounts show difference,” 4/24/10
- “kirkuk: Arab Group in the province council rejects manual re-tally,” 4/28/10
- “Kurdistan Alliance withdraws its complaints about Kirkuk electoral results,” 5/3/10

Associated Press, “Baghdad Vote Recount to Take About 2-3 Weeks,” 4/29/10