The news was released as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his State of Law coalition accused election officials of manipulating vote counts and called for a recount, a candidate from his bloc said. It was the prime minister’s first challenge to the results, and his bloc drew a link between its accusations and Allawi, accusing some electoral commission staff of having allegiances to groups backing Maliki’s rival.
Iraq’s vote-counting has been winding and chaotic, with ballot results portioned out piecemeal by election officials and almost immediately subject to fraud accusations. The winner will be tasked with forming a government that will oversee the country as US forces go home.
Crucially, with 79 percent of votes counted, Maliki’s coalition was still winning in seven of Iraq’s 18 provinces, including Baghdad; Allawi’s in five. That could prove important because Parliament’s seats are apportioned mainly by how well coalitions do in the provinces, not according to overall vote total.
Still, the momentum apparent in Allawi’s overall, nationwide lead could be troubling the prime minister and his coalition, raising questions about how strong their lead is.
The new vote results did not alter the picture much for the religious Shi’ite Iraqi National Alliance and the main Kurdish coalition, which lead in three provinces each.
In the province of Tamim, however, Allawi was beating his main challenger, the Kurdish coalition, by only five votes. The province is home to the disputed city of Kirkuk, which is hotly contested among its Kurdish, Arab, and Turkomen population.
Allawi, a secular Shi’ite, has drawn on considerable Sunni support, likely because of his nonsectarian stance and repeated condemnations of the influence of Iraq’s powerful Shi’ite neighbor, Iran. Maliki has drawn on support in the Shi’ite south as well as in the capital.
