SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Supporters of pro-Iran groups in Iraq protest against vote 'fraud'
Baghdad, Nov 12 (AFP) Nov 12, 2021
Some 2,000 supporters of Iraq's pro-Iran Hashed al-Shaabi network protested Friday in Baghdad against alleged fraud at last month's parliamentary polls, a week after a similar rallies turned violent.

The demonstration comes days after Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, whom Hashed supporters accuse of "complicity" in the alleged fraud, escaped unhurt from an unclaimed drone attack on his residence in Baghdad's Green Zone.

Hashed supporters gathered peacefully on Friday near one of the entrances to the Green Zone chanting slogans against Kadhemi and "death to America", AFP correspondents said.

The faced off against security forces deployed to prevent them from storming the highly protected area, which is also home to the electoral commission, government offices and the US embassy.

Several dozen pro-Hashed protesters had set up camp at the same location last Friday after violent clashes with police that left one protester dead, according to a security source. One of the Hashed factions said two demonstrators were killed.

Political tensions have soared in Iraq over the results of the October 10 elections.

Kadhemi's office described Sunday's attack as a "failed assassination attempt".

Preliminary results saw the Conquest (Fatah) Alliance, the political arm of the Hashed, suffer a substantial decline in its parliamentary seats, winning 15 of the 329 seats in parliament -- down from the 48 it held previously.

The big winner this time, with more than 70 seats according to the initial count, was the movement of Moqtada Sadr, a Shiite Muslim preacher who campaigned as a nationalist and critic of Iran.

Hashed leaders have rejected the results as a "scam", though Iraq's electoral commission said Monday that a manual vote recount in some polling stations where complaints were filed by pro-Iran groups did not show any "fraud".

Final results are expected in the coming days.

The preliminary results suggest the Hashed will nonetheless remain a considerable political force in parliament through its alliances and the support of some independent candidates.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Trump shifts priority to Moon mission, not Mars
The Quantum Age will be Powered by Fusion
BlackSky accelerates Gen-3 satellite into full commercial service in three weeks

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Conventional photon entanglement reveals thousands of hidden topologies in high dimensions
Philosopher argues AI consciousness may remain unknowable
Introducing the SEVEN Class A Thermopile Pyranometer

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Defence of Europe's eastern flank an 'immediate' priority: eight EU leaders
Trump signs $900 bn defense policy bill into law as Admin plans major DoD changes
PM Takaichi says Japan 'always open' to dialogue with China

24/7 News Coverage
Bible 1.0: How Ancient Canon Became Our First Large Language Models
Can scientists detect life without knowing what it looks like
Deep ocean quakes linked to Antarctic phytoplankton surges



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.