While the turnout in the Iraqi parliamentary elections was set at 41%, it also brought debates about the elections. One of the places where the election results were the most curious was Shengal. There were serious problems in Shengal. Technical problems arose in the first hours of the voting, people had to wait for hours to cast their votes, and some voters returned home without actually voting. Problems arose in the ballot boxes where PADÊ candidate Şêx Samîr was expected to receive high votes.

Again, many Shengal people could not vote because there was no record of them. According to the official lists, 83,000 people in Shengal went to the polls and voted. However, it was stated that only 13,000 people voted. It was stated that 70,000 votes were actually ‘missing’.

Due to these problems, PADÊ officially asked the Nineveh Election Commission that the election results were unacceptable and demanded that the voting be cancelled in Shengal.

In the petition submitted by PADÊ, it was stated: “The people who wanted to vote in the camps where the Yazidis live were prevented from voting. Because of this, the Yazidis could not cast their votes. The voters were also pressured to vote for the KDP. The KDP took the election workers in Nineveh under its control and made them act in their own interests.”

The statement also added that the incredible delays in the voting procedures caused many people to get demoralised and eventually go home without casting their vote.

“Citizens in the north of Shengal could not go and cast their votes. For these reasons, as PADÊ, we want the Nineveh Election Commission to cancel the voting process undertaken in Shengal on 8-10 October.”