Iraqi election officials conduct a manual count of votes from a ballot box picked at random as part of the verification process for the electronic count, at a polling station in the central city of Karbala. AFP
Iraqi election officials in Karbala. AFP
Iraqi election officials conduct a manual count of votes at a polling station in the capital Baghdad. AFP
Iraqi election officials check data at a polling station in Baghdad. AFP
Iraqi officials print out the electronic count of votes at a polling station in Karbala. AFP
Iraqi election officials conduct the electronic count of votes at a polling station in the northern city of Mosul. AFP
Iraqi election officials count votes at a polling station in Baghdad. AFP
An Iraqi election official holds a printout of the electronic count of votes at a polling station in the north-eastern city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. AFP
Iraqi officials print out the electronic count of votes at a polling station in the north-eastern city of Sulaymaniyah. AFP
Iraqi election committee staff members count votes at the end of the parliamentary election day at a polling station in Baghdad's Karada district. EPA
Iraqi election committee staff members count votes to elect 329 new members of the Council of Representatives. EPA
Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission is expected to announce the results of Sunday's election within two days. EPA
Iraqi election committee staff members count votes at the end of Sunday's parliamentary election day at a polling station in Baghdad's Karada district. EPA
A woman voter casts her vote at a polling station in Baghdad. AFP
Election workers count ballots at a polling station in Baghdad at the end of voting in parliamentary elections. AP
An election worker counts ballots after polls close. Parliamentary elections were held months ahead of schedule in response to a popular uprising against corruption and mismanagement. AP
Powerful cleric Moqtada Al Sadr's parliamentary bloc looked set to make large gains in Iraq's elections on Monday as final votes were being counted, the country's electoral body announced.
Head of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission, Jalil Adnan, said results were in for 94 per cent of polling stations at a press conference on Monday evening.
Results from the remaining 6 per cent and the complaints process could still change the results, Mr Adnan said.
Journalists were told to visit the Independent High Electoral Commission's website, which promptly crashed, for results. But by 6pm local time voter tallies were coming through, district by district.
The Sadrist Bloc led by radical cleric Moqtada Al Sadr was leading, having picked up the majority of seats in the southern Shiite-dominated provinces.
As in the last national elections in 2018, Mr Al Sadr appears to have benefited from a very low turnout, the commission said.
The Iran-backed Fatah bloc led by paramilitary leader Hadi Al Amiri — comprising an array of politicians and militia commanders linked to Iran — looked likely to suffer significant losses.
But results are subject to change as more votes are tallied, and legal challenges are possible in some governorates.
In a surprise turn, former prime minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law coalition managed to make a strong comeback. Parliament Speaker Mohammed Al Halbousi's Taqadum party also made significant headway, especially in the western province of Anbar
Intimad, a party linked to the anti-government protest movement, has won so far 10 seats, its co-founder Alaa Al Rikabi told The National.
“Thank God, this is a victory for our country and its people,” Mr Al Rikabi said. “God willing it will be a step in the right direction to change the situation,” he added. The party based its campaign on being an opposition inside parliament and to refuse any government posts, a strategy welcomed by its supporters.
Ballots still being counted in Iraq's 18 governorates and political negotiations could quickly influence the final result. The largest political bloc, likely that of Mr Al Sadr, will be declared by the president, who will then nominate a prime minister.
The country's electoral commission chairman said late on Monday that over 22 million of Iraq's 26 million eligible voters were registered to vote," Mr Adnan said during a press conference.
“More than nine million Iraqis have cast their votes and we’ve only received 25 complaints,” he said.
Starting from Tuesday the commission will receive appeals, Mr Adnan said.
Low turnout mars vote
The estimated turnout of 41 per cent is down from 44.5 per cent recorded at the 2018 election, and is on track to be the lowest turnout in any Iraqi election since 2005.
Sunday's vote, held months before schedule to meet the demands of a mass protest movement calling for sweeping political reform, passed off largely without incident. But there were widespread reports of people being unable to cast ballots because of problems with the new biometric voter ID cards issued by the electoral commission.
The highest turnout was registered in Dohuk province, in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, at 54 per cent. It was followed by Salahuddin province in central Iraq, with 48 per cent turnout.
The provinces of Babil, Diyala and Erbil each registered turnout of 46 per cent.
The lowest turnout was in Baghdad, with 31 per cent in the eastern side of the city and 34 per cent in the west.
Within an hour, results began to filter in from several major provinces outside Baghdad, district by district, including Erbil, Dohuk and Kirkuk and Najaf in southern Iraq.
Once the votes are in, they are tallied electronically and manually. Full results were not expected until later in the week, but analysts told The National that political negotiations to form coalitions were already under way.
Iraqi populist cleric Mr Al Sadr, who commands millions of followers, said on Monday that his movement would accept the announced results. In 2018, a recount was ordered amid allegations of fraud, which turned out to be unfounded, and the final tally did not change significantly.
Mr Al Sadr called on the electoral commission to “accelerate its efforts in announcing the results and to ensure that all obstacles and attempts to falsify or disrupt the process will be removed".
“We will accept the results with open arms and we will not resort to anything that is not in accordance with Sharia,” he said on Twitter.
A total of 3,249 candidates were vying for 329 seats in Parliament. Among them were 951 women, who are guaranteed 25 per cent of seats — 83 MP positions under the new law.
“The commission encourages and supports voting but there has been a slight shortage [in the turnout of voters]," Iraqi political analyst Bassam Al Qazwini said, on state-owned Al Ikhbariya television.
“The citizens are being stubborn and determining the current situation using the past.”
Out of about 25 million registered voters, more than 23 million updated their information to be eligible to take part.
The general election was Iraq's fifth since Saddam Hussein's dictatorship was toppled by a US-led invasion in 2003 and the first to be held under a new electoral law allowing independent candidates to contest for the first time.
Female candidates in Iraq elections — in pictures
Election posters for Iraqi candidates in Baghdad. EPA
A banner shows the parliamentary candidate Sabah abed Al Rasul Al Tamimi. AFP
Iraqi women living in Iran line up to vote in Iraq’s parliamentary elections. AFP Photo
A poster for Dr Dinia Al Naemi, who has given up her job in London to stand for election in her native Mosul. Photo: Mahmoud Ridha
Life goes on - including for fruit sellers - in the run-up to parliamentary elections in Baghdad. AP Photo
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Test series schedule 1st Test, Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka won by 21 runs; 2nd Test, Dubai: Play starts at 2pm, Friday-Tuesday
ODI series schedule 1st ODI, Dubai: October 13; 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 16; 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 18; 4th ODI, Sharjah: October 20; 5th ODI, Sharjah: October 23
T20 series schedule 1st T20, Abu Dhabi: October 26; 2nd T20, Abu Dhabi: October 27; 3rd T20, Lahore: October 29
Tickets Available at www.q-tickets.com
Stat Fourteen Fourteen of the past 15 Test matches in the UAE have been decided on the final day. Both of the previous two Tests at Dubai International Stadium have been settled in the last session. Pakistan won with less than an hour to go against West Indies last year. Against England in 2015, there were just three balls left.
Key battle - Azhar Ali v Rangana Herath Herath may not quite be as flash as Muttiah Muralitharan, his former spin-twin who ended his career by taking his 800th wicket with his final delivery in Tests. He still has a decent sense of an ending, though. He won the Abu Dhabi match for his side with 11 wickets, the last of which was his 400th in Tests. It was not the first time he has owned Pakistan, either. A quarter of all his Test victims have been Pakistani. If Pakistan are going to avoid a first ever series defeat in the UAE, Azhar, their senior batsman, needs to stand up and show the way to blunt Herath.
England's Ashes squad
Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.
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Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
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Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Where to buy
Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023 More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
