Maliki did not criticize UN over vote recount

BAGHDAD /Iraqi News An advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he had not criticized the United Nations or its representatives in the country over its refusal of his request for vote recount. During his meeting with the UN representative, Ad Melkert, “the prime minister pointed out the idea of recounting the votes to preserve the transparency of the elections,” Ali al-Moussawi said in a statement published by the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Tuesday. Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) had announced the parliamentary election results on Friday (March 26) in which former prime minister Iyad Allawi’s al-Iraqiya bloc obtained 91 out of the parliament’s 325 seats, followed by incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law) with 89 seats, the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) with 70 seats and the Kurdistan Alliance with 43 seats. SS (P) 1