Maliki's bloc believes substantial fraud occurred in March 7 elections (2)

Late month, the IHEC announced the preliminary results of the elections which showed that the bloc of secular leader Ayad Allawi, head of Iraqia bloc, made a slender lead with two seats when his bloc garnered 91 seats while Maliki garnered 89 seats of the parliament's 325 seats.

The race has been closed for both Maliki and Allawi during the partial preliminary results, raising tensions in central and southern the country. Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani pressed on the electoral commission in the past days to carry out manual recount for the votes over alleged fraud.

On March 7, some 62.4 percent of more than 18 million eligible voters turned out in some 8,920 polling centers across the country to vote for the 325-seat Iraqi Council of Representatives out of some 6,300 candidates.

Source: Xinhua
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