BAGHDAD (Agencies)
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki bloc won by a landslide local polls in Iraq's two largest cities, Baghdad and Basra, according to preliminary results released on Thursday, amid flaring violence that killed 15 people and allegations of voter fraud.
Maliki’s win is likely to give him a major boost ahead of a parliamentary election at the end of the year.
The election for regional councils that name powerful governors in 14 of 18 provinces was Iraq's first vote since 2005 and the most peaceful in the war-battered country since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The elections results are released after a suicide attack that killed 15 people and wounded 15 in the Iraqi province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad on Thursday.
The attack is the bloodiest in Iraq in weeks and a reminder of the fragility of recent security gains.
Meanwhile, police shot and killed Tariq Azab, the brother of an imprisoned leader of the Mehdi Army militia, in Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, a spokesman for the Sadrist political movement affiliated with the militia said.
In Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeted deputy education minister Muadh al-Jibouri as he left his home but was unharmed, police said. |
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Fraud claims raise alarm But allegations of vote fraud in some provinces, mainly in the former Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar, raised fears of violence ahead of the release of election results. This prompted the army to take action to guard against unrest.
"The police and the army are in Anbar implementing security measures throughout the province ahead of the announcement of the election results," a senior Iraqi army officer told AFP, requesting he not be named.
The accusations in Anbar, once the hotbed of a fierce anti-US insurgency, were serious enough for Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Rafaa al-Issawi to call on Wednesday for a recount.
"We demand a recount of the votes and to bring to justice the people who committed fraud," Issawi said in the provincial capital of Ramadi after meeting Sunni tribal leaders.
Sunni tribal leader Sheikh Ahmed Abbu said that results sheets have been returned from Baghdad to Ramadi, strongly indicating that a review of the ballot tally would take place.
A U.N. elections official said the allegations have been subject to a procedural investigation by the Iraqi electoral commission and a solution could come as early as Thursday. |
