Iraq's supreme court on Thursday (June 21st) ordered a manual recount of last month's legislative elections, prompted by allegations of fraud, AFP reported.
The court found that the decision by parliament to order a manual recount in response to allegations of electoral fraud did not violate the constitution, its president Medhat al-Mahmud told a news conference.
All of the roughly 11 million ballots, including those of voters living abroad, displaced persons and security forces, must be recounted, al-Mahmud said.
The May 12th vote was won by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's electoral alliance with communists, as long-time political figures were pushed out by voters hoping for change.
The result was contested -- mainly by the political old guard -- following allegations of irregularities in the election, Iraq's first since the defeat of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS).
