In a statement on Thursday, May 17, Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jubouri confirmed that "next Saturday there will be an emergency session to discuss the conduct of the elections."

Dozens of Iraqi deputies signed a petition earlier in the day calling on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Salim al-Jubouri, to hold an emergency session to investigate alleged voter fraud in the May 12 elections, NRT reported.

As many as 81 deputies asked Jubouri to hold an emergency session, based on Article 58 (section 1) of the constitution.

There have been calls by the election candidates for a manual recount of votes in some provinces, but the High Electoral Commission rejected such requests.

A member of the High Electoral Commission, Saed Kakaee, said the commission's rejection of a manual recount of votes is contrary to the law.

Reporter’s code: 50101