Baghdad: The Iraqi Prime Minister's bloc said on Friday it has started laying the groundwork to form a coalition government, signalling growing confidence after preliminary election results showed it winning in at least three southern provinces.
The outcome from last week's parliamentary vote was far from certain, with election officials still counting ballots nearly a week after Iraqis went to the polls.
Partial tallies so far have only been released from 7 of Iraq's 18 provinces, excluding Baghdad, and the picture was further muddied on Friday when results from one province showed a Shiite religious coalition leading.
In the lead
Nouri Al Maliki's rivals also hammered home on their allegations of fraud, which could mar the process that will determine who should lead the country as US forces prepare to go home.
According to early results released on Thursday, the State of Law coalition led by Al Maliki had the lead in two mainly Shiite provinces while his secular challenger, Eyad Allawi, was ahead in two provinces north of Baghdad.
The results released yesterday from Maysan province, which borders Iran, showed the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a coalition made up of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada Al Sadr, with a lead over Al Maliki.
With only about 23 per cent of the votes counted, INA was ahead with almost 30,000 votes to 23,000 for Al Maliki's alliance.
However, Iraqi officials who have seen results from across the country said Al Maliki's coalition appeared to have a narrow edge, though not an outright majority.
Even the head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Ammar Al Hakim, has said that Al Maliki's coalition appears to be winning — the first public statement by such a high-ranking official.
Abbas Al Byati, a member of Al Maliki's coalition, said on Friday that the alliance already had created a committee to open talks with other blocs and expected that the group would need about two or three other coalitions to form a government.
Rend Al Rahim, a candidate with Allawi's Iraqiya coalition, said that the group had filed 32 fraud complaints with election officials as of Thursday night.
She said the coalition had concerns ranging from ballots that had been dumped in the garbage and ballot boxes never being delivered to the counting centre in Baghdad.
