Urgent IHEC meeting delays results announcement

BAGHDAD /Iraqi News Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission is currently holding a meeting prior to announcing the results of the war-torn nation’s parliamentary elections, according to an IHEC spokesman on Friday. “The IHEC is now meeting prior to the announcement of the results,” Qassem al-Abboudi told Iraqi News over the phone. He did not give further details. Aswat al-Iraq correspondent said that the announcement of the results was delayed due to an urgent meeting held by the IHEC. “The meeting was not attended by Ad Melkert, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG), inside the results announcement hall that seemed almost vacant but under tight security measures.” Earlier results, based on 95 percent of ballots counted, showed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s mainly Shiite bloc facing a virtual tie with the alliance led by former prime minister Iyad Allawi, who has garnered heavy Sunni support. The tightness of the race sets the stage for protracted political wrangling over forming a new government that could spark new fighting and complicate American efforts to speed up troop withdrawals in the coming months. It also has prompted calls for a manual recount of the tallies from the March 7 parliamentary vote amid claims of vote rigging and fraud. Also, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani, himself a candidate, called Thursday for a delay in the release of the results to prevent an outbreak of violence among supporters who feel they were disenfranchised. However, many international observers as well as Iraqi nongovernmental organizations that closely monitored the election have said the process has basically been fair and honest. AmR (S) 1