ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Baghdad’s electoral committee confirmed on Tuesday that it had revoked the parliamentary membership of a newly elected lawmaker from Iraq’s Badr Organization, citing the politician’s claim to have formed a “brigade” within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), allegedly enabling recruitment, including by voters.
In a statement, the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said its Board of Commissioners decided to reverse “the approval of the candidacy” of Muhannad al-Khazraji due to “violation of the country’s election law,” specifically failing to meet the requirement of “good conduct and reputation.”
Imad Jamil, head of the IHEC’s media team, told Rudaw on Tuesday that Khazraji, “the winning candidate from the Badr Organization in Baghdad, was disqualified due to bad conduct and reputation.”
He added that the call stemmed from Khazraji’s “formation of a fictitious brigade [within the PMF] called the ‘Martyrs of Victory Brigade.’”
The IHEC’s decision follows correspondence from eastern Baghdad’s Rusafa Investigation Court, which on Thursday asked the PMF Authority to clarify whether a brigade named "Martyrs of Victory Brigade" exists and whether any military recruitment had occurred within it in recent months.
Iraq held its early legislative ballot on November 9, followed by the general vote on November 11. The IHEC announced the final results last week.
Khazraji, the Badr Organization’s top candidate in Baghdad, had received 10,084 votes - all of which will now be invalidated.
The Badr Organization won 18 seats overall, including four in Baghdad.
Iraq uses a modified proportional representation system based on the Sainte-Lague method, in which each party’s total votes are divided by a fixed quotient to allocate parliamentary seats.