By Country / Iraq
Iraqi Sunnis Say Baghdad Vote Fraudulent
December 20, 2005
Tariq al-Hashimi and Adnan al-Dulaymi of the Iraqi Accordance Front (file photo) (AFP)
The announcement was made today by Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the Iraqi Accordance Front.
Partial results from the 15 December parliamentary elections show the Shi'ite bloc -- the United Iraqi Alliance -- receiving 59 percent of the vote in the capital. The Iraqi Accordance Front came a distant second with about 19 percent.
Baghdad and its surrounding province is the key contest in the vote as it will account for more than three times more seats in parliament than any other region.
In other news, the U.S. military announced that eight former officials in Saddam Hussein's government have been released from U.S. custody in Iraq, saying they no longer posed a security threat.
Those released were not named, but reports said they include two women who had been working in Saddam's biological weapons program.
(Reuters/dpa/AFP)