Saturday, Feb 05, 2005
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BAGHDAD, FEB. 4. Iraqi election officials on Friday released a new, partial tally of votes from the weekend's elections, showing candidates backed by Shia Muslim clerics continuing to roll up a strong lead over other tickets including one headed by the Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi. The new figures are based on about 3.3 million votes cast at 35 per cent of the polling stations, said Hamdiyah al-Husseini, an electoral commission official. They represent partial returns from 10 of Iraq's 18 provinces. All 10 have heavy Shia populations. No returns have been released from mainly Sunni provinces north and west of the capital. The United Iraqi Alliance, the Shia-dominated coalition whose leaders have close ties to Iran, won more than 2.2 million votes, according to incomplete returns. Mr. Allawi's ticket was running second with more than 579,700 votes. The returns represent 15 per cent of the votes cast in Basra province and 80 per cent tallied in the less densely-populated Muthanna province. The Shia alliance had been expected to run strong in those areas. The number of seats a political faction wins in the 275-member National Assembly will be based on the proportion of votes each faction receives. In voting in 14 countries abroad, Iraqis gave the main Kurdish alliance the most votes with about 29 per cent.
Al-Sadr belittles vote
In Kufa, the Shia rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called today on his community's senior religious leaders to insist on a timeline for a U.S. troop withdrawal and belittled last week's vote. ``This is a message from Sayed Moqtada. I call on all religious and political powers that pushed towards the elections and took part in them to issue an official statement calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of the occupation forces from Iraq,'' Sayed Hashim Abu Ragheef told faithful gathered for Friday prayers.
Journalist kidnapped
A woman Italian journalist was kidnapped at gunpoint today near a mosque in Baghdad, her newspaper said. Giuliana Sgrena, who writes for the Leftist daily Il Manifesto, was abducted just after calling her office to say she was fine. — Agencies
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