The final results from Iraq’s March 7 parliamentary polls will be published on March 26, the spokesman for the country’s election commission said on Sunday.“Next Friday, we will announce the final results at the Rasheed hotel at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT),” Qassim al-Abboudi said at a press conference at the Independent High Electoral Commission’s (IHEC) data entry centre in Baghdad’s Green Zone.
Election results were initially expected around March 18, with final results—after all complaints were resolved—likely at the end of the month.
Friday, March 26, 2010Iraq fears violence when poll results revealed
BAGHDAD: Iraqi election results today will likely show a virtual tie between the two top vote-getting blocs led by the prime minister and his chief rival, a political equation that could add up to bitter political wrangling and risk re-igniting violence.
Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, a Shi'ite who enjoys wide support with the Shi'ite majority, is neck and neck with former prime minister Ayad Allawi, who's popular with Iraq's Sunni minority.
If neither camp emerges with a clear mandate to lead Iraq's fragile democracy, many fear a drawn-out political debate to form a government could spill over into violence and complicate American efforts to speed up troop withdrawals in the coming months.
The country's interior minister, himself a candidate, yesterday called on Iraq's electoral commission to hold off releasing the tally because he fears rivalries between the various political blocs could erupt into violence. That concern has also been echoed by many members of Al Maliki's State of Law coalition, who say they fear the country's Shi'ite majority could react in outrage if they feel the results aren't what they expect.
Such pronouncements likely reflect a great deal of political posturing. Election officials have firmly dismissed calls for a delay or a recount in a vote-tallying process that has dragged on for nearly three weeks since Iraqis went to the polls March 7. Even so, many here fear a return to violence between the country's Sunni and Shi'ite factions amid the horse-trading that will ramp up in earnest once all results are out.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=274200
BAGHDAD: Iraqi election results today will likely show a virtual tie between the two top vote-getting blocs led by the prime minister and his chief rival, a political equation that could add up to bitter political wrangling and risk re-igniting violence.
Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, a Shi'ite who enjoys wide support with the Shi'ite majority, is neck and neck with former prime minister Ayad Allawi, who's popular with Iraq's Sunni minority.
If neither camp emerges with a clear mandate to lead Iraq's fragile democracy, many fear a drawn-out political debate to form a government could spill over into violence and complicate American efforts to speed up troop withdrawals in the coming months.
The country's interior minister, himself a candidate, yesterday called on Iraq's electoral commission to hold off releasing the tally because he fears rivalries between the various political blocs could erupt into violence. That concern has also been echoed by many members of Al Maliki's State of Law coalition, who say they fear the country's Shi'ite majority could react in outrage if they feel the results aren't what they expect.
Such pronouncements likely reflect a great deal of political posturing. Election officials have firmly dismissed calls for a delay or a recount in a vote-tallying process that has dragged on for nearly three weeks since Iraqis went to the polls March 7. Even so, many here fear a return to violence between the country's Sunni and Shi'ite factions amid the horse-trading that will ramp up in earnest once all results are out.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=274200
