IHEC - Complaints & Appeals

The opportunity to make a complaint or appeal a certain decision on a complaint is an important safeguard of election integrity. Some candidates and parties may refuse to accept defeat, and make unsubstantiated charges of fraud or tampering. Other candidates may have valid grounds and evidence to justify a complaint.
Election integrity requires that the IHEC and the justice system be willing to effectively address complaints without undue delay. It also requires that the complainant be willing to use the official complaints mechanisms and abide by the resulting decision.
Complaints must be submitted to IHEC on an IHEC Complaints Form, which can be obtained from any Electoral Office representing the IHEC, i.e. any Voter Registration Centre, Governorate Electoral Office or the National Office in Baghdad. A complaint must be submitted within three days of the alleged wrongdoing, incident or perceived irregularity, along with documentary evidence if available.
Every complaint is reviewed by the IHEC Department of Electoral Advice & Complaints which makes a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners. The latter issues a ruling which is then published during three daily newspapers, both in Arabic and Kurdish. Those cases relating to criminal activities are referred to the criminal justice system.

Appeals

The decision of the IHEC is subject to appeal. The appeals process serves as a check on the decisions made in the initial review, and may deter arbitrary or biased decision making.
This enables the person who filed the complaint to seek a review of the decision with a higher-level institution, namely the Electoral Judicial Panel. One can appeal a IHEC BoC decision to the Electoral Judicial Panel, in written, and within three days following the last day of publication of the issued ruling. The decision of the Electoral Judicial Panel is final and cannot be appealed.

Complaints & Appeals

Appeals

Click for more information