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
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
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TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
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Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs
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
