Final results of election Friday, says IHEC chief

BAGHDAD /Iraqi News The final results of Iraq’s legislative elections will be announced on Friday, according to the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) Faraj al-Haydari on Sunday. “The final results of the parliamentary elections in Iraq will be announced in Baghdad’s al-Rasheed Hotel at 07:00 p.m. on Friday,” Haydari said in a press conference. He added that any party or bloc has the right contest the results in three days since their announcement, noting they will be published later on in Arabic and Kurdish at the official gazettes. Haydari appealed to all political parties to “observe patience.” “There are suggestions, not requests, by some officials to re-count the votes, which is very difficult because this should take 300,000 employees to be brought back to election stations,” he said. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had asked for having the votes re-counted manually. Meanwhile, IHEC spokesman Qassem al-Abboudi, during the same press conference, denied that the IHEC staff received threats. “The IHEC has good relations with all partners in the democratic process including the presidency, the cabinet, the parliament and other officials,” Abboudi pointed out. AmR (S)/SR 1