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Shiites reject calls for new Iraqi ballot
25.12.2005
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BAGHDAD, Iraq, 25
Dec. -Hundreds of Shiites spilled into Baghdad
streets on Sunday to support their governing
coalition, which took a large lead in the Dec. 15
elections and has been the target of opposition
vote-rigging accusations.
Sunni Arab groups staged smaller demonstrations in
the western Anbar city of Fallujah and in eastern
Baqouba to support demands for a rerun of the
parliamentary elections, which they claim were
tainted by fraud.
At least 16 people were killed in violence around
Iraq on Sunday.
Two mortar rounds also landed near the heavily
fortified Green Zone, and a roadside bomb damaged an
American tank on a highway east of Baghdad. There
were no immediate reports of injuries. AP Television
News footage and photos showed an Abrams battle tank
in flames.
A suicide car bomber slammed into two Iraqi army
vehicles in central Baghdad, killing five soldiers
and wounding seven police and civilians, police Maj.
Mohammed Younis said.
In the sprawling Shiite slum of Sadr City, about
1,000 demonstrators held a rally to support
preliminary results showing the governing United
Iraqi Alliance, a religious Shiite coalition,
leading in the elections. They also chanted slogans
denouncing former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a
secular Shiite whose party seems to have fared
badly. His party has joined Sunni Arab groups
complaining about the results.
The Alliance has called on Iraqis to accept the
results and has been moving ahead with efforts to
form a "national unity" government.
But the Shiite religious bloc also deepened the
post-election turmoil by claiming that Islamic
extremists and Saddam Hussein loyalists were at the
forefront of those questioning the results.
In Fallujah, hundreds of demonstrators took part in
a demonstration organized by the local government to
protest the elections. All public offices were
closed in the former insurgent stronghold.
"We decided to have a sit-in today and stop work in
government offices to convey our demands for a rerun
of elections," Fallujah Mayor Dhari al-Arsan said.
The Alliance, headed by the cleric Abdul-Aziz
al-Hakim, said preliminary results showing them with
a clear lead in the elections were not the result of
fraud or intimidation. They charged that many
violations took place in Sunni Arab areas, and
claimed that many of its opponents conspired with
insurgents to alter results.
"There will be no going back and no new elections,"
Jawad al-Maliki, a senior Alliance official, said at
a news conference. "The results must be accepted and
the will of the people must be respected."
He added that the Alliance had been expecting to win
more seats.
"The opponents have made it clear through their
statements and warnings that they stand alongside
the terrorists," he said.
He was referring to statements by senior Sunni Arab
politicians, including Adnan al-Dulaimi, the head of
the main Sunni Arab coalition known as the Iraqi
Accordance Front, who openly thanked some insurgent
groups for not attacking polling stations. It was
also a reference to reports that masked militants
were guarding some of them.
AP
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