The final result of Iraq's historic election will be announced within five days, the electoral commission said yesterday. "We will announce the final results before February 10," said commission official Farid Ayar.After the final result "appeals can be made for nine days. Afterwards, the commission will validate the final results" having taken appeals into account, said Ayar. The final vote count continued yesterday, although no new partial results were given. Speculation as to when final results would be announced has been rife in recent days, with commission officials citing several different dates.
According to results announced on Friday, the United Iraqi Alliance list backed by Iraq's Shi'ite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, has over 2.2 million out of the 3.3m votes counted. That gave the Sistani list 67 per cent of the vote and a commanding lead over Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's list, which won 579,708 votes, or 17pc.