Electoral commission: Baghdad votes recount done, no signs of fraud

May 14, 2010, 17:06 GMT

Baghdad - Iraq's electoral commission said Friday there are no indicators of fraud after it finished a manual recount of the March parliamentary election votes in Baghdad.

'The recount is finished and we have literally applied the decision of the court,' Qassim al-Aboudi, of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) told reporters.

'We finished the recount of 11,298 ballot boxes and no signs of fraud have been found,' al-Aboudi said, adding that results of the recount process are to be announced on Monday

Earlier this month, the IHEC started recounting the ballot casts in the capital, as ordered by a Baghdad court after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition alleged the results were fraudulent and demanded a recount.

The results of the March 7 parliamentary elections showed the Iraqiya List of former prime minister Iyad Allawi winning 91 seats in the 325-member parliament, followed by al-Maliki's coalition with 89 seats.

Intense political jockeying has followed the results, as both al- Maliki and Allawi claim the right to form the new government.

Media reports said a meeting between the heads of the two rival coalitions was now expected to try to decide the next course of action, despite denials or vague comments from both sides.

An alliance between the State of Law and the Iraqi National lists would pose the largest faction in parliament with 159 deputies.

But that number is still four deputies short of a working majority.