U.N urges care of Iraq poll complaints, worried by humanitarian situation

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The United Nations has urged Iraqi authorities to address complaints related to voting the results in the recent parliament elections, also voicing concern of the humanitarian situation.

Speaking during a special session at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, U.N. special representative in Iraq, Jan Kubis said Iraq  “held timely elections to its national parliament”, noting that “Iraqis were able to vote and select their representatives freely and safely, and that “liberated areas witnessed a free voting process for the first time after the victory of the Iraqi forces and the defeat of Da’esh [Islamic State]”.

He, however admitted that “Iraq elections were marked by a low voter turnout”.

As for the claims of voting irregularities by several political parties, Kubis urged the electoral commission to “adjudicate all appeals properly, fully and in time, to enable corrections of the problems, justice and the timely certification of the final election results”.

Iraq held parliament elections on 12th of this month, but the government has said it was going to investigate claims of forgery and declared cancelling voting results at more than 1000 polling stations.

Shifting to the humanitarian situation, Kubis warned that the humanitarian crisis was continuing.

“Despite increase in returnees to their communities, more than 2.1 million remain displaced, down from the 3.4 million at the peak end of 2016,” he noted.

“Continued military presence in camps acrossIraq, sexual harassment of women  and girls, diversion of humanitarian aid, detention and disappearance of camp residents, recruitment activities inside camps armed actors’ attacks on humanitarian staff, remain deeply concerning”, according to the U.N. representative.