Maliki Holds Edge in Iraq, but Results Are Challenged

[tekisui]

Source: New York Times

BAGHDAD — Early results in Iraq’s parliamentary elections on Thursday indicated that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s coalition was likely to win a plurality in an exceedingly close race, according to Western and Iraqi officials.

Fierce protests by his opponents, however, appeared to delay an imminent official announcement of the preliminary results and threatened to undermine public acceptance of the outcome.

The initial results, the officials said, suggested a race between Mr. Maliki’s coalition; Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite and the leader of the Iraqiya coalition; and a Shiite coalition known as the Iraqi National Alliance. The Kurds, though divided, appeared poised to finish strongly as well, leaving the country’s political landscaped as fractured as ever.

Even as the results were about to be broadcast, one of the Iraqi National Alliance’s leaders, the former exile Ahmed Chalabi, called the vote-counting process itself into question, challenging both the transparency of the ballot counting and the computerized system being used to tabulate the votes.

Hours later Mr. Allawi did the same. “The insistence of some on tampering with the elections have made us put new question marks on the possibility of fraudulent results that would make them worthless in conveying the vote of the Iraqis,” Mr. Allawi’s coalition said in a statement.

The accusations threw into chaos a carefully planned process — overseen by the United Nations — for counting and announcing the tallies from Sunday’s vote. The election of a new 325-member Parliament has been widely considered a major milestone for Iraq. The early indications of an exceedingly close contest made the formation of a new government even more complicated and potentially volatile. Iraqi and American officials have expressed concerns that a prolonged political fight could lead to increased violence on the streets.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/world/middleeast/12iraq.html