Dawlat al-Qanoon wins more than one-quarter of provincial council seats

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law) garnered more than one-quarter of the all 490 in the country’s local council, according the Indpendent High Eletoral Commission (IHEC) on Thursday. “Maliki’s list achieved matchless victory in Baghdad, where it won more than half all 57 seats, retaining its position in the lead compared to the rest of the blocs in the elections that took place late last month in 14 provinces,” the IHEC said in a press conference in the Iraqi capital on Thursday to announce the final results of the elections. “All in all, the Dawlat al-Qanoon list collected 126 seats in 12 out of 14 provinces where local elections were held. The list snatched the top ranking in nine southern provinces in addition to the capital Baghdad,” the IHEC said. “The list obtained 28 out of Baghdad’s 57 seats, crushing the (Sunni) contender Iraqi Accord Front (IAF), which won seven seats,” it said. “Dawlat al-Qanoon also obtained 20 out of Basra’s 35 seats, 13 out of Thi-Qar’s 31 seats, 13 out of Wassit’s 28 seats, 11 out of al-Qadissiya’s 28 seats, nine out of Karbala’s 27 seats, eight out of Babel’s 30 seats and eight out of 27 seats in Missan province, where the Shahid al-Mihrab list of Abdelaziz al-Hakim, the leader of the (Shiite) United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) obtained the same number of seats,” the IHEC noted. Maliki’s coalition, however, obtained only two out of Diala’s 29 seats, ranking fifth, and two seats in Salah al-Din province’s local council’s 29 seats, it added. Dawlat al-Qanoon returned empty-handed in the provinces of Ninewa and al-Anbar. AmR (S) 1