Iraq PM Maliki in tight race with rival Allawi

[maddezmom]

Source: BBC

The latest results from Iraq's parliamentary poll show a tight race emerging between Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and his main rival, Iyad Allawi.

With 80% of votes counted, the secular Shia-Sunni Iraqiya coalition led by Mr Allawi, a former prime minister, has a narrow overall lead for the first time.

But Mr Maliki's State of Law alliance remains ahead in Baghdad and Basra.

The BBC's Andrew North, in the capital, says the picture could well change by the time all the votes are counted.

Results from refugee voters outside Iraq, and special pre-election voting by Iraqi security forces have still to be announced, and they could dramatically affect the outcome of the parliamentary poll, our correspondent says.

With neither coalition able to win an overall majority, it is likely to mean talks on forming a new government will be long and difficult, he adds.




Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8572906.stm

[maddezmom]

1. Iraq election result hit by fresh delays• Move follows further claims of vote-rigging

Iraq election result hit by fresh delays• Move follows further claims of vote-rigging
• Maliki named frontrunner as groups lay out demands
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The review falls short of the full recount demanded by Maliki's State of Law bloc, but adds another layer of uncertainty to a painstaking 11-day count that has been riddled with delays and claims of vote rigging. It also follows conflicting accounts of who is the frontrunner, with Allawi's entourage still maintaining they are within striking distance of the lead, with 80% of the national vote counted.

"It will be close, believe me," Allawi said on the eve of the election. "This could take many months to sort out."

Ahead of what was expected to be a watershed in post-Saddam Iraq, the potential kingmakers gave the first indications of their demands during the horse-trading that will follow a winner being declared.

Loyalists of Moqtadr al-Sadr, the exiled Shia cleric, said they could countenance joining Maliki's coalition to form a government but only if the prime minister was not given a second term. The Sadrist bloc, which was ostracised by Maliki and denounced by the US as a spent force, has emerged from the ballot unscathed. It is likely to win up to 40 seats in the new 325-seat parliament, proving difficult to avoid in any coalition negotiations.
more:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/18/iraq-elections-results-delay