Baghdad, Dec 28 (IANS): The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court has ratified the results of the country's snap parliamentary elections, paving the way for the outgoing Iraqi President to call on the new parliament to hold its first session, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

The federal court on Monday ratified the results during its session, in which the court rejected an appeal against the October 10 election results and a request to stop the procedures for ratifying the election results, according to INA.

Earlier on Monday, a judge read out a verdict at the federal court headquarters in Baghdad, rejecting an appeal submitted earlier by Hadi al-Meri, Head of the al-Fateh (Conquest)

Alliance, Xinhua news agency reported.

On November 30, the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced the elections' final result, which showed that the Sadrist Movement, led by prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, took the lead with 73 seats, while the al-Fateh Coalition garnered 17 seats compared with 47 in the 2018 elections.

The political blocs, which lost their leading status in the elections, did not give up easily and began demonstrations and sit-ins, describing the election results as "manipulation and fraud".

According to the Iraqi constitution, the ratification of the results entails President Barham Salih to call on the new parliament to hold its first session under the chairmanship of the eldest parliament member within 15 days from the court's ratification, to elect a President of the parliament and then the President of the country, who will ask the largest alliance to form a government within 30 days.

The Iraqi parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for 2022, were held in advance in response to months of protests against corruption, poor governance, and a lack of public services. A total of 3,249 candidates within 167 parties and coalitions competed for 329 parliamentary seats in the elections.