Iraqi News March 17 Iraq PM and main rival project to tie seat count

[luckylucy]

news from down under ...

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/iraq-pm-and-main-rival-projected-to-tie-on-seat-count-20100317-qefa.html; March 17, 2010

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his main rival Iyad Allawi were projected on Wednesday to win the same number of seats in Iraq's parliament in a dramatic tightening of the country's election race.

Maliki's State of Law Alliance and Allawi's Iraqiya bloc were both on pace to garner 87 seats in Iraq's Council of Representatives, with less than 9,000 votes separating the two nationwide, according to an AFP projection based on 79 percent of ballots cast.

.......... {part of article with more vote details deleted by luckylucy; go to link for full article} .........

Overall, Allawi held a slim lead in the nationwide vote count, with 2,102,981 votes cast in Iraqiya's favour, compared to 2,093,997 for the State of Law alliance, a difference of just 8,984 votes.

The Iraqi National Alliance, a coalition led by Shiite religious groups is set to come in third with 67 seats, while Kurdistania, comprised of the autonomous Kurdish region's two long-dominant blocs, is projected to have 38.

No other group is projected to win more than 10 seats. Fifteen of the 325 seats in parliament are either compensatory or reserved for minorities and were not included in the projection.

Iraq's proportional representation electoral system makes it unlikely that any single group will clinch the 163 seats needed to form a government on its own, and protracted coalition building is likely.

Both State of Law and Iraqiya have said they have begun talks with rival blocs to form a government, with analysts warning that political groupings could still manoeuvre to form a coalition without either list.

Intisar Allawi, a senior Iraqiya candidate, said the group had held "very good and positive" talks with the INA and the Kurdish bloc, while State of Law has formed a committee to hold negotiations with other lists.

Complete election results are expected around March 18, and final results -- after all complaints have been investigated and ruled upon -- are likely by the end of the month.Related article: Protracted vote count sparks fraud claims

"We need several more days to announce the final results," Qassim al-Abboudi, an election official, told a news conference on Tuesday, explaining that the appeals process would take about two weeks after full results were published.

....

CLICK FOR REST OF ARTCLE

luckylucy

[Linduh2]

thanks for the post...hummm a tie how about that now comes the behind the scenes trade offs ...hope the 18th is good for us ...we need that final tally imo to jump start the rv process

[SailorDave]

LuckyLucy - Thanks for the posting.

It appears the burnoose is tightening, doesn't it. No matter who wins what seats, it is going to come down to who has the best people skills to form the coalition government. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the end.

[luckylucy]

SailorDave & Linduh2, you are welcome. Will be interesting and IMO this is good, much better than one group taking a huge majority.

LuckyLucy - Thanks for the posting.

It appears the burnoose is tightening, doesn't it. No matter who wins what seats, it is going to come down to who has the best people skills to form the coalition government. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the end.