Maliki's coalition scores clear victory amid fraud allegations

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Independent High Electoral commissioners Amal al-Berqdar, left, and Hamdiyah al-Hussaini, at a news conference announcing the results of Iraq's provincial elections Thursday in Baghdad. The Iraqi prime minister's allies finished first in races for ruling councils in Baghdad and eight other provinces during last weekend's provincial elections, officials said.


Maliki's coalition scores clear victory amid fraud allegations
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, February 6, 2009

BAGHDAD — Vote fraud allegations are threatening to throw parts of Iraq back into chaos, overshadowing preliminary provincial election results handing a clear victory to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Rule of Law coalition.

Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission released the results Thursday after initially postponing the release because of the fraud dispute. Final results are not expected until the end of February.

Maliki’s coalition won nine of the 14 provinces contested and was particularly dominant in Baghdad and Basra provinces, where it won 38 and 37 percent of the vote, respectively. The Iraqi Supreme Islamic Council, the country’s largest Shiite party, won just 5.4 percent and 11.6 percent of the vote in those provinces.

Yet the fraud accusations threaten to mar elections that were roundly hailed as a success when election day passed with minimal violence. More than 14,400 candidates competed for 440 provincial council seats in 14 of the country’s 18 provinces.

The elections were widely seen as a test of political progress in Iraq, and the ability of the government to resolve election issues could have implications for President Barack Obama’s plans for an American withdrawal from the country.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60512%2e