The Kirkuk Turks claimed the parliamentary elections held in Iraq were falsified. A commission has been set up for re-organizing the vote in Baghdad. Specialists from Turkey also came to Iraq on the issue.

The leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, Arshad Salehi, told Axar.az. The following report is prepared by the Turkish election observers.

1. A team of 10 observersfrom Turkey arrivedin Iraq upon the invitation of the Chairman of the Independent High Electoral Commission, in order to observethe Iraqi elections on 12 May 2018. The team was separated into three groupsof four, fourand twoobservers, assigned respectivelyto carry out their mission in Erbil, Kirkuk and Baghdad.

2. The BaghdadTeamvisited various parts of the city and observed20 polling centersand 100 ballot boxes.3. The KirkukTeamvisited around 20 polling centers in neighborhoods with predominant Turkmen, Arab, Kurdish populations,as well as mixed communities and polling centers for migrants/IDPs.

4. The three teams mentioned above have made the following common observations: 4.1.Sufficient security measures were taken at the polling center entrances,4.2.Voters were subjected to necessary security measures,4.3.Voter lists were hung outside the polling centers,4.4.Explanatory material on voting procedures was made available at polling centers,4.5.Signature list was signed by the voters,4.6.In general, the election process started at 08:00 and ended at 18:00,4.7.Everyballot box had threepersonnel and party representatives.

5. Voter turnout was observed to be 30-35 per cent and in Baghdad and around 50 per cent in Kirkuk.

6. The electronic voting system put into practicefor the first time in Iraq is unsuitable for holding healthy elections. The fact that each ballot paper is paired with the identity of the voter through the barcode on it may revealfor whom the voter voted.

7. It may also be possible for third parties to intervenein the counting process through the USB and SD card slots on the voting devices. The Kirkuk Team was made aware of widespread allegations of frequent use of these slots to manipulate results. Moreover, the fact that there was no manual countof the votes makes it possible to cheat in the elections. As in the examples of Hurriyet and Hittiyn schools in Korya Neighborhood, electronic voting devices were almost completelydefectiveand voting could not commenceat full capacity at some polling centers until around 11:00 a.m. and 12:00p.m.In said neighborhoods, contrary to the practice in other regions, the election centers had not checked whether the electronic devices were operational or not by the authorities the day before the elections. An IED attack, which occurredin Mektep Halit in the west ofKirkuk, killed eightmembers of Iraqi Federal Forces and al-Hashd al-Shaabi. No other security breach was reported.

The Kirkuk Team observed armed members of the Iraqi Security Forces entering some polling centerswith relative ease. (For example "Nawruz Girls High School No:139680, Kale Girls School No: 139205 and Goran School No: 238711)Moreover, it has been observedthat in some polling centers, the political propaganda ban within 100 meters of the polling centers was not enforced. (For example, Shorja School in Kirkuk No:139504)In some other regions, it has been observedthat, voters entered the polling centers with political party flags. (Goran School No: 238711, Nawruz Girls High School No:139680)It has been observedthat the voter turnout among internally displaced people (IDP) was around 15-20 per cent. Elevenpolling centers were allocated in the province for IDPs. However, there were almost no directivesconcerning the voting procedures to be followed at polling centers by IDPs