Allawi leading!

Ex-Prime Minister Allawi's list takes lead in Iraqi election race

In its evening newscasts on 17 March, Dubai Al-Sharqiyah Television in Arabic reports on Allawi-led Iraqi List achieving a 9,000-vote lead over Al-Maliki-led State of Law Coalition; remarks by the Iraqi List spokesman Maysun al-Damaluji that it secured 88 seats at the parliament; and a meeting held by INA leaders to discuss the formation of the new government.

Within its 1500 gmt newscast, the channel reports the following:

- "After sorting 80 per cent of votes, the Iraqi List, headed by Iyad Allawi, has achieved a 9,000-vote lead over the State of Law Coalition, headed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in the parliamentary election results. Figures released by the Independent High Electoral Commission indicate that the State of Law Coalition and the Iraqi List will each obtain 87 seats out of 325 seats after sorting 79.23 per cent of votes. It is expected that the Kurdistan Alliance will obtain 38 seats. Available figures show a 9,000-vote lead between Allawi, who garnered 2,102,981 votes, and Al-Maliki's coalition that obtained 2,093,997 votes. These figures also show that the Iraqi National Alliance won less than 1,600,000 votes, whereas the Kurdistan Alliance won 1,232,000 votes."

- "Maysun al-Damaluji, spokesman for the Iraqi List, has announced that the list obtained 88 seats at the new Iraqi parliament, whereas the State of Law Coalition secured 85 seats. She said that the Iraq List has started intensive consultations to form the new Iraqi government, adding that the list has no premature objections to any side that agrees to work hand in hand within the framework of the national plan to help put Iraq on the path of survival, achieve consensus among all its political and social forces, and restore Iraq's reputation and its Arab, Islamic, and international status."

- "The Iraqi List has condemned the targeting campaigns against prominent list figures through arrests or exclusions. Fattah al-Shaykh, member of the list, said that an Iraqi Government force arrested Akram al-Naqib, member of the list, in Baghdad last night under the pretext that he failed to provide a discharge certificate from the Ministry of Defence, warning against continued provocations and pressures on members of the Iraqi List."
Within its 1600 gmt newscast, the channel reports the following:


- "Leaders of the Iraqi National Alliance [INA] have discussed the dialogues with all Iraqi lists and sides for the sake of forming the new government. A statement by the Iraqi Islamic Supreme Council [IISC] said that the INA's leaders held a meeting during which they underscored the INA's unity and its welcome of dialogue with all Iraqi lists and sides while adhering to constants and Iraq's unity and sovereignty. The statement quoted IISC Chairman Ammar al-Hakim as stressing that these meetings fall within the framework of unifying the INA's vision on all details and required steps, adding that the INA is solid and intends to build a national partnership government. For his part, Ibrahim al-Ja'fari, INA member and former Iraqi prime minister, said that the INA's leaders underscored the need to keep the door of dialogue with all political sides open, especially since there are joint security, political, and economic constants with all these forces."
Within its 1900 gmt newscast, the channel reports the following:

- "The Independent High Electoral Commission [IHEC] in Iraq has announced that the National Counting and Sorting Centre will re-verify the data related to the election results achieved by the political entities. Iyad al-Kinani, member of the IHEC's Board of Commissioners, announced this during a joint news conference with IHEC spokesman Qasim al-Abbudi in Baghdad."

- "The IHEC has said that the sorting of votes is fair and includes multiple revisions to prevent manipulation. Karim al-Tamimi, member of IHEC's Board of Commissioners, said that the latest results the IHEC announced showed that the lists won nearly equal s hares of votes, something which prompted some entities to express their fear and cast doubt on these results."

- "IHEC member Qasim al-Abbudi has announced the total number of votes won by the Christian lists competing for the five seats in the parliament."
The channel then shows Al-Abbudi making the following statement: "The Al-Rafidayn List won 14,014 votes; the Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian People Council 13,600 votes; the National Chaldean Council 4,331 votes; the Ur National List 4,007 votes, Sirkis Yusuf Sirkis 2,776 votes; the Democratic Ishtar Coalition 2,111 votes; and lawyer Yuhanna Yusuf Tuma 3,769 votes. These votes are only taken from the general voting without counting the votes in the special voting and the out-of-country voting."

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