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The two main political parties in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region of Iraq are shouting out fraud after Sunday 's parliamentary elections, with one of them declaring that he will refuse to accept the results.
Nearly 800 candidates contested 111 seats. Participation would have been modest even as Iraqi Kurds attempt to reaffirm their autonomy after the crackdown from Baghdad.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the main political parties, told the VOA that it would not accept the results of Sunday's vote.
PUK spokesman Saadi Ahmed Pira accused the party's main political rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), of electoral fraud in two provinces controlled by the KDP.
Pira did not give details but said that the PUK was asking for an investigation.
Meanwhile, KDP spokesman Khosrow Goran, who also spoke with VOA, said that the PUK was behind electoral fraud in two cities. He also gave no details.
An election commission official said that no party had the power to reject the results and that only the commission could do it.
Many Iraqi Kurds want an independent state and hope that their major role in the fight against Islamic State terrorists as part of the US-led coalition will help them achieve this goal.
But the Iraqi central government has said the referendum on independence last year was illegal. She sent Iraqi forces into the area and pushed the Kurds to leave the oil fields essential to the Kurdish economy.
Baghdad also imposed other economic sanctions on Kurdistan and reduced the region's share of the federal budget.
The Kurdish VOA service contributed to this report.
