Iraq: Ayad Allawi’s Coalition Wins Parliamentary Elections

Preliminary results from the nationwide March 7th parliamentary elections show former secular prime minister Ayad Allawi ahead of current Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki by about two seats, granting the former’s Iraqiya alliance the first chance at forming a government. Allawi’s predominantly Sunni bloc received 91 seats in the 325-member parliament compared to Maliki’s 89 seats.

After the results were released, the Washington Post quotes Maliki as saying that “some of these results are unacceptable and unreasonable.” Ad Melkert, the United Nation’s representative in Iraq, disagreed saying ”it is the UN’s considered opinion that these elections have been credible and we congratulate the people of Iraq for this success.” Regardless,  Julien Barnes-Dacey, an analyst at the Control Risks Group, explains in a Bloomberg article that “it doesn’t really matter who came first and who came second because it is basically a tie. Everything is up for grabs now.”

Before the results were announced and in response to a statement released by Maliki last week demanding a recount to prevent “a return to violence,” Spencer Ackerman commented that Maliki has the chance to do more for his country’s budding democracy by losing gracefully than by narrowly winning the election. “Nouri al-Maliki will secure his place in history if he becomes the first non-interim Iraqi leader to willingly relinquish power after the results of an election.”

Earlier in the day, 40 people were killed and more than 60 wounded in two bomb blasts in the Diyala province.