Iraq poll results to be released in hours, Politics 3/26/2010 5:45:00 PM

[IcemanSC]

Iraq poll results to be released in hours

Politics 3/26/2010 5:45:00 PM



BAGHDAD, March 26 (KUNA) -- The final results of the March 7th general elections in Iraq are to be made public within just a few hours' time, with the winners to be gaining access to the new Iraqi parliament.
Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) of Iraq is scheduled to hold a press conference tonight to release the results of the tight race between incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Iraq's IHEC has ruled out a manual recount of all the votes in the country's parliamentary election, saying that no political party has shown any evidence that such a recount was needed.
Although the process of vote-counting has been put in question by Maliki's State of Law alliance and Allawi's Iraqiya political bloc, the race is still very close between both main rivals.
With 95 percent of the votes counted, each bloc has scored the same number of votes, which means that they will mostly wield 91 parliamentary seats, IHEC sources said.
The federal court is scheduled to approve the findings once released by the election commission. But, the door will be open for challenging.
However, observers predict that Iraq could be thrown into a political cul-de-sac, should a bloc challenge the results.
While the head of Iraq's election commission, Faraj al-Haydari, has ruled out a manual recount of all the votes in the country's parliamentary election, supporters of incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Maliki have staged protests calling for a recount. Meanwhile, security measures have been tightened up in Baghdad list violent acts take place once elections results are made public.
International observers have largely approved of the conduct of the election. The 7 March election is regarded as a crucial test for Iraq's national reconciliation process as well as the US plan to stage the withdrawal of its military. (end).
mhg.mt KUNA 261745 Mar 10NNNN

[dreamer1]

kinds sounds like our elections here in the USA.