Iraq presidency calls for calm during election vote count limbo

Iraq's presidency has called on political groups to "avoid any escalation" after they accused officials of mishandling votes made in last week's parliamentary election.

The call from the office of President Barham Salih follows accusations from some of the 10 October vote's biggest losers and the armed groups they are aligned with that the results have been tampered with by various groups.

"We call on all parties to adopt a responsible national stance that takes into account the supreme interest of the country, to abide by calm... and to avoid any escalation that might affect societal peace and security," read a statement from the Iraqi presidency.

The president backed the Independent High Electoral Commission in its vote counting, despite the accusations that it was allowing votes to tampered with.

The IHEC is currently counting votes by hand in Baghdad's high-security Green Zone.

Some votes are being counted because polling stations had sent their ballots late, while others were being recounted after appeals.

With the recounts and some ballots still to be sent in, sources close to the IHEC said the results of the recount might not be completed until the end of the next week, The New Arab's Arabic-language site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

The initial results of the elections came as a shock to some of Iraqi politics' biggest kingmakers. Their parties and blocs trailed far behind the Sadrist Movement led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which won more than 70 of Iraqi parliament's 329 seats.

A group of pro-Iran parties known as the “Coordination Framework for Shia Political Forces” led by former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki issued a statement on Wednesday saying that those election results “put civil peace in danger”.

Abu Ali Al-Askari, leader of the Kataib Hezbollah militia, accused Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and the intelligence service Kadhimi once headed of manipulating the results in favour of political parties he did not name.

The commission said soon after the release of these statements that it would be recounting some of the votes - but not because of pressure from political parties and armed groups.

“The commission and the electoral process will not be affected by any form of pressure,” commission media director Hassan Salman told state media on Wednesday.

Sadr, whose relations with Iran-backed groups have at times been acrimonious, defended the election results.

The Sadrist bloc is to put forward one of its members as choice for prime minister, state media quoted Sadrist representative Nasser al-Rubaie as saying on Friday.