Sharjah 24 – AFP: Iraq's supreme court on Monday rejected a motion filed by the Hashed al-Shaabi ex-paramilitary alliance contesting its defeat in the October 10 parliamentary election.
"The Federal Court has decided to reject the complaint... and to make the plaintiffs bear the costs," Judge Jassem Mohamed Aboud said, reading out the verdict.
The court "rejects the request of the plaintiffs... not to ratify the final results of the election," he said. "The verdict is binding on all authorities".
While the ruling is a key step forward, it does not mean that the final results have been ratified, an electoral commission lawyer who attended the court hearing said.
That requires an official announcement to endorse the results, only after which can the new parliament be inaugurated and a new government formed.
In multi-confessional and multi-ethnic Iraq, the formation of governments has involved complex negotiations ever since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein.
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