Dawlat al-Qanoon coalition dominates 9 of 14 provinces

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law) coalition dominated the results of the local council elections in nine out of 14 Iraqi provinces, according to Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission. ” Dawlat al-Qanoon garnered 38% of the votes in Baghdad, 37% in Basra, 23.1% in Thi-Qar, 23.1% in al-Qadissiya, 15.3% in Wassit, 16.2% in Najaf, 17.7% in Missan, 10.9% in Muthanna and 12.5% in Babel,” the IHEC said in a statement announcing the results of the provincial council elections on Thursday (Feb. 5). “Maliki’s coalition also ranked 3rd in Kabral with 8.5% of the votes, 5th in Diala with 5% and achieved insignificant results in the provinces of al-Anbar, Salah al-Din and Ninewa,” the IHEC said. The results should allow the coalition to enter into alliances to form provincial councils, which was expected based on the initial results announced by independent observers and organizations. AmR (P) 1