Region | Iraq
Sunni group claims fraud
Iraq's Sunni Arab minority, angry at signs that Shiites will remain the dominant force, denounces last week's vote count as a fraud and accuses individual election officials of partisanship. Stunned by their defeats in Baghdad, where Sunnis and secular-minded voters appear more numerous than in other areas, the main Sunni Arab bloc called for a rerun of the vote there.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:31 May 3, 2009
Baghdad: Iraq's rebellious Sunni Arab minority cried foul on Tuesday over results of last week's election, angry at signs that Shiites will remain the dominant force.
Stunned by their defeats in Baghdad, where Sunnis and secular-minded voters appear more numerous than in other areas, the main Sunni Arab bloc called for a rerun of the vote there.
The secular grouping led by Shiite former prime minister Iyad Allawi denounced the count as a fraud and accused individual election officials of partisanship.
Sunni Arab politician Hussain Al Falluji, a leader of the Iraqi Accordance Front, which came a distant second in Baghdad with 19 per cent, gave a veiled warning that disappointment could prompt Sunni Arab rebels to return to violence.
"We demand a rerun of the election in Baghdad," said Adnan Al Dulaimi, another Iraqi Accordance Front leader.
Iraqis voted along ethnic and sectarian lines but need to form a broad-based government that crosses that divide if the country is to prosper, the US ambassador said on Tuesday.
"It looks as if people have preferred to vote for their ethnic or sectarian identities," US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters.
"Sectarianism undercuts prospects for success and increases the risk for conflict among sects."
Commission official Farid Ayar told a news conference that "the final results will not be ready and certified until a few days into next January".
He said there had so far been more than 1,000 complaints about violations, of which 20 were described as "very serious".
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