Recount in Iraq Preserves Victory for Maliki Rival

[TomCADem]

Source: NY Times

BAGHDAD — A weeks-long dispute over the counting of ballots in Iraq’s landmark parliamentary elections in March came to a tentative end Sunday, with the country’s election commission saying that a partial recount had preserved the narrow victory of the leading rival to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

The announcement removed a stumbling block in the long-delayed process of forming a new government that will preside over Iraq as the American military withdraws. With the recount over, the country’s highest court can begin ratifying the results, a crucial step in opening the way for negotiations over the next prime minister.

“We hope that no one else appeals so that we can be done with this,” Qassim al-Abboudi, a spokesman for the commission, told a news conference.

Mr. Maliki’s electoral bloc had demanded the recount after finishing narrowly behind a largely Sunni and secular coalition led by Ayad Allawi, a former interim prime minister. His supporters claimed that numerous cases of fraud had tarnished the vote and that a recount might reverse as many 20 seats, making Mr. Maliki’s list the winner.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/world/middleeast/17iraq.html?hp