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Iraq PM Maliki leads Baghdad vote count
13.3.2010 |
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March
13, 2010
BAGHDAD, —
Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki's bid to retain his job
gained steam on Saturday, as early results crucially
put him ahead in Baghdad, while rival blocs began
jostling over the formation of a government.
Though the preliminary figures represent less than
one-third of all votes cast, they have put Maliki
firmly in pole position in the race for the top job,
with only ex-premier Iyad Allawi having emerged as a
potential rival.
The results from Iraq's second parliamentary
election since Saddam Hussein's ouster seven years
ago, which sparked widespread sectarian bloodshed,
come less than six months ahead of a dramatic US
military downsizing which will see all American
combat troops leave the country by the end of
August.
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Iraq PM Nuri al-Maliki |
Analysts said, however,
that Maliki could be blocked in his bid to hold onto
office even if his State of Law Alliance was the
biggest single party in parliament, as other groups
could manoeuvre to form a government without him.
With 18 percent of ballots counted in Baghdad,
Maliki's State of Law Alliance was comfortably ahead
with around 150,000 votes, followed by the Iraqi
National Alliance (INA),www.ekurd.neta
coalition led by Shiite religious parties, with
108,000. Allawi's secular Iraqiya bloc was third on
105,000.
Baghdad and its seven million residents account for
70 parliamentary seats, or more than one-fifth of
the 325-member Council of Representatives, making it
a crucial win for any would-be government.
News of Maliki's lead in Baghdad came shortly after
a senior member of his coalition said State of Law
had formed a committee to begin negotiating with
rival blocs to hammer out a government.
"The committee met with representatives of four
political entities that made progress in the
elections," Abbas al-Bayati, a candidate for the
coalition, told AFP, but he declined to say with
which blocs the talks were held.
But Baghdad University professor Hamid Fadhel said
that even if Maliki's group emerged as the biggest
party in parliament, other groups could still shut
him out and manage to form a government.
"There exists a desire to form an alliance between
the INA and the Kurds, possibly also with Allawi,"
he told AFP. "They have all refused a long time to
really see Maliki as the prime minister."
Underscoring Fadhel's analysis, Allawi and Iraq's
Sunni Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi were due to
arrive in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous
Kurdish region, on Saturday to meet with regional
president Massoud Barzani.
Barzani's office said he and Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani, himself a Kurd, also met with Shiite
Vice-President Adel Abdel Mahdi, an INA candidate,
on Friday.
Iraq's proportional representation electoral system
makes it unlikely that any single grouping will
clinch the 163 seats necessary to form a government
on its own.
Preliminary results from the March 7 polls released
since Thursday have put Maliki's coalition in the
lead in the predominantly Shiite southern provinces
of Najaf, Babil, Karbala and Muthanna.
Iraqiya was ahead in the mostly Sunni provinces of
Diyala and Salaheddin, while the INA was in pole
position in Shiite Maysan.
The Kurdistania alliance, made up of Barzani and
Talabani's long-dominant blocs, was leading in Arbil
province.
Complete results are expected on March 18 and the
final ones -- after any appeals are dealt with --
will likely come at the end of the month.
Iraqiya has alleged "flagrant fraud" took place
during the election, but those complaints were
described as "exaggerated" by State of Law.
An IHEC official has said the claims of fraud were
either politically motivated or fuelled by a
misunderstanding of the counting procedures, but
said they would nevertheless be investigated.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
AFP
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