IHEC disqualifies four Iraqi candidates

Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) disqualified four parliamentary candidates — including two from Baghdad — over misconduct, falsified documents, and breaches of electoral conditions, according to official documents.

The IHEC’s Board of Commissioners ruled to exclude Taha al-Luhaibi, a candidate for the Taqadum Alliance, which currently holds 37 seats in parliament, for “publicly insulting the Iraqi armed forces” and for using “sectarian rhetoric inciting hatred and division among Iraqis.” The commission instructed the Operations and IT Department to block any votes cast for him or for his electoral list.

A separate decision confirmed the exclusion of Hussein Saeed Kazem Ali, known as Hussein Arab, a candidate for the Reconstruction and Development Coalition, which holds 15 seats. The Federal Integrity Commission verified that the academic certificates he submitted were invalid, according to a report from Imam Jaafar al-Sadiq University.

Read more: Elections on schedule, legitimacy in doubt: Iraq heads toward November vote

The IHEC also revoked the candidacy of Ibrahim Hadi, running under the Badr Organization in Babil province—a key faction within the Shiite Coordination Framework, which holds about 40 seats—and Iman Khamsin, a candidate for the Tafouq Alliance in al-Anbar province, which currently has five seats in parliament.

The decisions follow earlier commission action on Tuesday, which canceled the candidacy of Wasit province nominee Samer Jermani and named a replacement for Baghdad Provincial Council member Safaa al-Mashhadani.

Iraq heads to parliamentary polls on November 11, with about 30 million eligible voters out of a population of nearly 46 million. However, nearly seven million citizens are expected to be unable to vote due to unupdated electoral data.