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KURDISH parties moved into second place in
Iraq’s election count yesterday, strengthening their
demands for a senior position in the council that
will select the prime minister.
The results were undermined by revelations of
vote-rigging and intimidation in the city of Mosul,
where masked gunmen had burst into polling stations
and stolen ballot boxes, stuffing them with their
own papers.
In figures released from the Kurdish north, the
coalition that includes Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan and Massoud Barzani’s Kurdistan
Democratic Party swept their homeland, scoring 95
per cent in Dohuk province and 91 per cent in
Sulaimaniya.
The final national result is not expected for
several days.
The Kurds’ success reduces the share held by the
United Iraqi Alliance backed by the senior Shia
cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. With 4.36
million votes counted, the alliance falls from two
thirds of the vote to about 51 per cent, with the
Kurds at 24.6 per cent.
It now seems likely that the Shias will have to work
with other groups on the first task of the new
275-seat National Assembly, to gain the two-thirds
majority needed to select the three-man presidential
council that chooses a prime minister.
The Kurds’ success strengthens their position in
horse-trading for either the presidency or prime
ministership. In an internal deal, any such position
will go to Dr Talabani, with Mr Barzani assuming a
regional role as President of Kurdistan.
The Iraqi List of Iyad Allawi, the acting Prime
Minister, is in third place with 13.6 per cent, but
the picture remains unclear in Baghdad and Basra
where he, as a secular Shia, might be expected to do
better.
The scale of the Sunni boycott became apparent, with
Shias winning even in Saddam Hussein’s former
stronghold province of Salahuddin. There, the
Sistani-backed Shia coalition topped the poll with
27,645 votes, against 15,832 for the country’s Sunni
President, Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawer.
The picture in the divided northern city of Mosul
was even more confused last night after Izzedine al-Mohammedi,
an Election Commission official, confirmed that an
investigation was under way into suspected tampering
with 40 ballot boxes in the city, which is divided
between Arabs, Kurds and other ethnic minorities.
“There were a number of polling stations where
election materials were looted by gunmen, and
workers in the stations were targeted by men with
guns,” Mr al-Mohammedi said in Baghdad.
“They stole the boxes, tried to bribe the workers,
stole election cards and returned them in irregular
ballot boxes.”
Election officials also confirmed that only 93 of a
planned 330 polling centres had been able to open
for the vote, with more than 15,000 voters therefore
unable to cast their ballots. The Iraqi officials
were surprised by the high number of voters who
defied the violence to go to the polls; despite
scrambling 1,200 officials and equipment, they could
not supply enough election materials in time.
Monitors said on Sunday that there was evidence of
intimidation at 15 per cent of polling stations but
that no one party bore particular responsibility and
the ballot had still been free and fair. “Despite
problems . . . the election appears to have been
conducted without systemic flaws and in accordance
with basic international standards,” the independent
Election Information Network said.
VOTING FIGURES
Partial results for 13 of Iraq’s 18 provinces:
Total votes cast: 4,360,000
United Iraqi Alliance: 2,244,000 (51 per
cent)
Kurds: 1,075,000 (24.6 per cent)
Iraqi List: 596,000 (13.6 per cent)
The election commission has yet to release final
figures for any province
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
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