Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission found “unprecedented” violations that were committed during last month’s parliamentary polls, announced Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi on Tuesday.
During his weekly press conference, Abadi said the commission found "widespread manipulation" and faulted election authorities for "not taking the needed measures or taking wrong ones."
The findings are an ominous sign that could prolong the process of forming a new government.
Abadi stated that the outgoing cabinet approved the recommendations of the commission, which is made up of the heads of five security and oversight agencies as well as the head of an anti-corruption agency.
The recommendations include a manual recount of at least 5 percent of ballots and annulling all votes from overseas and displaced voters.
The elections, the fourth held since the 2003 US-led invasion, saw low turnout reflecting widespread anger at the country's dysfunctional political class.
Moqtada al-Sadr, head of the Sadr movement, emerged victorious in the vote, but he would have to form a coalition government with other blocs in a process that could drag on for months. Abadi's bloc came in third.
The electoral commission, which administered the vote, has denied widespread irregularities and rejected past calls for a manual recount or the cancellation of ballots.
Abadi said most of the blame for violations lay with the commission. He said the main issue was with the electronic vote counting devices used by commission this year, which he said had been used without prior inspection for errors.
A commission spokesman declined to comment.
It is unclear whether the government can force it to undertake those measures, and it is also unclear whether doing so would change the outcome of the election. The winners of the election have already begun talks on forming a new government.
Abadi has meanwhile called for criminal investigations and has banned election officials from traveling abroad without his approval.
The PM said he had initially been in favor of moving forward with the political process after the election because Iraq had a history of electoral irregularities that were usually worked out.
“In the beginning I said ‘Let’s keep going and let the commission deal with the violations’. There are violations each election, here and there.”
But he said he was alarmed after studying the report’s findings.
“The committee has revealed dangerous things, honestly. Yes there may have been some violations by candidates but the election commission bears the largest share of the responsibility,” he said.
