PM, secular parties lead in provincial elections- paper

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and a number of secular parties seem to have scored “significant gains” in Saturday’s provincial elections, The New York Times said in a report on Monday. “If the early returns prove accurate, the prime minister could be strengthened in dealings with Parliament before national elections to be held by next year. Mr. Maliki’s Dawa Party drew strong support in Basra and Baghdad, two of Iraq’s largest and most politically important provinces, according to political parties and election officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss preliminary tallies,” according to the newspaper’s report. “The relative success of the secular parties may be a sign that a significant number of Iraqis are disillusioned with the religious parties that have been in power but have done little to deliver needed services. Well-known incumbent parties also did well,” the report noted. “The Americans had pushed for the provincial elections as a way to redistribute power more evenly throughout the country after many Iraqis boycotted the last elections in 2005. It was unclear whether a lower-than-expected turnout, at 51 percent nationwide, would curb hopes that all Iraqi sectarian and ethnic groups could be more accurately represented,” according to the newspaper. “Faraj al-Haideri, the head of the Independent High Electoral Commission, described the election as fair and said there was no evidence of major fraud. He said the commission was ‘very pleased with the turnout,’ adding, ‘Very rarely in other parts of the world do you get such a high percentage voting in provincial elections’.” “Low turnout of just 40 percent in Anbar Province was a particular surprise because the area, for years racked by a brutal insurgency, is now relatively calm and many people were eager to vote after having sat out the elections in 2005. Despite the low numbers in Anbar, the electoral commission said Sunni participation nationwide was higher than it had been in 2005,” it added. SS (S)/SR 1