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| Iraq |
| Iraq Supreme Federal Court endorses election results |
| 2010-06-02 |
| BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq's Supreme Federal Court announced on Tuesday that it endorsed the results of the March 7 legislative elections. “The court upheld the final results of the Council of Representatives elections for the year 2010 as provided by the documents of the Independent Higher Electoral Commission (IHEC),' Judge Medhat al-Mahmoud, the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, said during a press conference he held in Baghdad today (June 1). “The decision was taken in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 7 of Article 93 of the constitution of the Republic of Iraq,' he said. The court's endorsement of the election results cap more than 73 days of heated controversy that followed the March 7 elections that decided the 325 members of the Council of Representatives who will elect the Iraqi prime minister and president. The election resulted in a partial victory for the Iraqi National Movement (Iraqiya), led by former Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, which won a total of 91 seats, making it the largest alliance in the Council. The State of Law, led by incumbent Prime Minister Maliki, was the second largest grouping with 89 seats. On January 15, 2010 the IHEC banned 499 candidates from the election due to alleged links with the Ba'ath Party. Before the start of the campaign on 12 February 2010, the IHEC confirmed that the appeals by banned candidates had been rejected and thus all 456 banned candidates would not be allowed to run for the election. A recount of the votes in Baghdad was ordered on 19 April 2010. On May 14, the IHEC announced that after 11,298 ballot boxes had been recounted, there was no sign of fraud or violations. Earlier, a source close to Maliki, the leader of the Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law) bloc, said Maliki gave instructions to withdraw all the contests forwarded by his bloc against the parliamentary election results. |
| Posted by:Steve White |