Barzanis congratulate Sadr over Iraqi election win, parties to protest results

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Kurdish leaders have congratulated Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr over his list’s prominence in Iraqi election, while some Kurdish parties plan protests to question results.

Sadr’s media office said in a statement that the popular leader received phone calls from Kurdistan’s former president, Masud Barzani, and incumbent premier, Nechirvan Barzani, congratulating him on the victory of his “Saeroon” list, which came first in the elections held last Saturday.

Sadr had received a similar gesture from Iraqi premier Haider al-Abadi.

Meanwhile, six Kurdish political movements said they would protest what they described as “election fixing”.

Hemin Sheikhani, a senior leader of Gorran, Kurdistan’s largest opposition party, was quoted saying during a press conference on Tuesday that the movement, along with five other political groups, intend to stage protests in Erbil against “rigging and vote manipulation during the elections”.

The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party and its partner Patriotic Union of Kurdistan led the votes at Kurdish constituencies, according to final results released by the country’s electoral commission.