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Maliki Falls Short of Majority In Early Election Returns

The provincial elections in Iraq failed to give Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a majority in the government, while other smaller parties secured seats, Ali Abel Sadah reports.
Iraqi election officials empty a ballot box before counting the votes in a constitutional referendum after the closing of a polling station in Basra, 420 km (261 miles) southeast of Baghdad April 20, 2013. Voter participation in Iraq's provincial election on Saturday was 50 percent of eligible voters, the country's electoral authorities said after poll stations closed. Election officials said including results from a special vote a week earlier for members of the armed forces, total participation would be m

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not win the political majority that would have enabled him to form local governments by himself, according to the results of the local elections held in 12 Iraqi provinces. In the coming period, he will be required to engage in a fierce struggle with political blocs, some of which — even Shiite ones — are his opponents.

Preliminary results — leaked two days after the polls closed on Saturday [April 20] — show the country's religious minorities will get 6 out of 378 seats in the 12 provinces. The various dispersed Iraqi lists will get nearly 70 seats, while the Sadrist movement will win close to 50 seats. The State of Law coalition will receive 115 seats, whereas 80 seats will go to the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI).

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