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| Iraq |
| Iraq's Maliki leads Allawi by 40,000 votes |
| 2010-03-19 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held on to his slim overall lead in the nationwide vote tally over his main challenger Iyad Allawi, updated results from Iraq's general election showed on Thursday. Maliki's State of Law Alliance led Allawi's Iraqiya bloc by 39,905 votes, according to new figures released by Iraq's election commission and based on 89 percent of ballots counted. That figure includes 70 percent of special voting, conducted three days before the election, for the security forces, hospital patients and staff, and prisoners. Iraq's system of proportional representation makes it unlikely that any single group will clinch the 163 seats that would enable it to form a government on its own, and protracted coalition building is likely. Overall, State of Law garnered 2,448,452 votes compared to Iraqiya's 2,408,547. The Iraqi National Alliance, a coalition led by Shiite religious groups, was third nationwide with 1,859,606. The nationwide vote count is an indication of the tight race between the two, but it was not immediately clear how their tallies would affect the number of seats they win in parliament. Both State of Law and Iraqiya have said they have begun talks with rival blocs to form a government, with analysts warning that political groupings could still maneuver to form a coalition without one of the two lists. Complete election results were expected in the coming days. Final results -- after all complaints have been investigated and ruled upon -- are likely by the end of the month. On Wednesday, an ally of Maliki charged that the count, which has so far taken 10 days, had been plagued by widespread fraud and demanded a nationwide recount. "There has been clear manipulation inside the election commission in the interests of a certain or a specific list," said Ali al-Adeeb, a State of Law candidate in the predominantly Shiite central province of Karbala. "State of Law demands the counting process be repeated to be sure that there has been no manipulation." |
| Posted by:Fred |