Iraq announces final results of provincial elections
Baghdad: The Iraqi Independent High Election Commission (IHEC) has announced the final results of provincial elections held in 15 of the country’s 18 provinces, except three provinces in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
According to the report of Xinhua news agency, the Nabani alliance led by Hadi al-Ameri, leader of the Badr organization affiliated with the Hashd Shaabi forces, has emerged as the frontrunner after winning 43 seats in ten provinces including Baghdad.
The State of Law coalition, led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, won 35 seats.
The Sunni coalition led by ousted parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, known as Taqaddum (Progress), won 21 seats in five provinces.
According to IHEC, about 6.6 million of the more than 16 million eligible voters cast their votes during general voting on December 18 and early voting on December 16. Voters elected 285 new members to provincial councils from among 5,901 candidates. Provincial elections were last held in Iraq in April 2013.
