This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27474518
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 1 | Version 2 |
---|---|
Iraq's Maliki 'wins most seats in parliamentary polls' | Iraq's Maliki 'wins most seats in parliamentary polls' |
(35 minutes later) | |
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's alliance won last month's parliamentary elections in Iraq, but fell short of a majority, preliminary results show. | |
The electoral commission said State of Law had taken 92 of the 328 seats in the Council of Representatives. | |
Its two main Shia rivals, Ammar al-Hakim's Muwatin and the Ahrar movement loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, followed with a combined 57 seats. | |
Mr Maliki wants a third term, but other parties have voiced strong opposition. | |
They blame him for the sectarian violence that has left more than 3,000 people dead this year, and accuse him of trying to monopolise power. | |
Coalition negotiations | |
More than 9,000 candidates and 276 political entities contested the elections on 30 April, the first since the withdrawal of US troops in 2011. | |
On Monday, the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced that 62% of the 22 million eligible voters had cast ballots. | |
The preliminary results showed State of Law in the lead in 10 of the 18 provinces, with a combined total of 92 seats, followed by Muwatin with 29 and Ahrar with 28. Two smaller parties of Sadr supporters won six seats. | |
The Mutahidoun bloc led by the Sunni Arab Speaker of Parliament, Osama al-Nujaifi, ended up with 23 seats, former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Wataniya list won 21, and Sunni Arab Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq's Arabiya list got 10 seats. | |
Negotiations over the formation of a new coalition government are likely to take some time. It took nearly 10 months after the last election in 2010. | |
Under the constitution, the president must ask parliament to convene 15 days after the final results are announced. Deputies will then choose not only a new prime minister but also a president and speaker of parliament. |