Dawlat al-Qanoon bloc takes lead in Babel

BAGHDAD /Iraqi News Vote counting so far in the province of Babel showed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law) coalition taking the lead with 68,887 votes, according to Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) on Thursday. Coming second was the National Iraqi Coalition with 54,970 votes while former Iraqi Premier Iyad Allawi’s al-Iraqiya received 31,840 votes, said the IHEC. The Iraqi Unity bloc got 5,174 votes, the Iraqi Accordance Front 2,884 and the People’s Unity 2,446. IHEC chief Faraj al-Haydari had said that the final results of Iraq’s second parliamentary elections since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion would take four to five days to announce. AmR (P) 3