The United Nations, consulates, and party representatives, as well as international observers are monitoring the process, NRT reported.

Ballot boxes which are suspected to have been rigged were transferred and stored at a building near Kirkuk Governorate headquarters late on Monday, July 2, for the manual recount.

Ballot boxes in the provinces of Salahadin, Duhok, Erbil, Anbar, Nineveh, and Sulaimani will be opened after Kirkuk.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called for the manual counting of votes in Kirkuk on May 15 after Turkmen and Arab lists rejected the preliminary results of the election in the province.

Abadi said if there faults were found in Kirkuk, the recount should take place in all governorates of Iraq, according to state television.

Iraq’s electoral commission introduced electronic voting and vote counting to eliminate electoral fraud for the parliamentary election on May 12. Several parties, however, complained about the new system.

Reporter’s code: 50101