Election results to be delayed up to two weeks

The Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq (IECI) said on Saturday that a seventy percent turnout in last week’s parliamentary elections was “a success” but that 200 reported cases of fraud could delay final results by up to two weeks. “We should analyse all the voting problems that we’ve heard about and concentrate on alleged fraud, especially in the north of Iraq,” Hussein Hendawi, a senior IECI official, said on Saturday. On 15 December, Iraqis cast ballots to elect the country’s first representative and fully constitutional government with a four-year term. A total of 228 political entities, including 21 coalitions, competed for 275 elected seats in the national assembly. Among those competing for seats were mainstream Sunni parties, which had boycotted the last parliamentary election – a decision which cost them influence in the outgoing interim government. According to terms stipulated in the constitution, the new government will choose a president and two deputies from among its members. A presidential council will then have 15 days to name a prime minister who will then have 30 days to form a cabinet with parliamentary approval. “Iraqis should be patient for the final results,” said Hendawi. “Monitoring, with the help of international observers, will decide on the complaints of fraud after precise analysis.” Violations in 18 polling stations countrywide have also been reported by IECI officials who have already begun an investigation, according to Hendawi. Where violations are proven, localised elections may have to be carried out again, he said. Final results are expected to be released in early 2006. “This election was a success because there were very few reported attacks, opening up the possibility of a better Iraq,” said Saleh Gargwi, a shopkeeper in the capital, Baghdad. “But results should be faster than they have promised,” he added. Despite reported irregularities, both Sunni and Shi’ite Muslim leaders praised the election turnout. Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the Iraqi Accord Front, a coalition of three predominantly Sunni parties, said: “I thank all Iraqis who showed up on Election Day, and the insurgents who ceased fire… giving a chance to the population to vote.” Jawad al-Maleky, a member of the Shi’ite United Iraqi Alliance, spoke of the possibility of a future alliance with Sunni parties: “Sunnis are welcome to form an alliance, but we have no doubts about our prominent [Shi’ite] presence in the assembly,” he said. US officials have urged winning parties and candidates to form coalitions, in the hope of quelling the ongoing insurgency.