Iraq PM, main rival in tight election battle

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BAGHDAD, Mar 17 (AFP): Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his main rival Iyad Allawi were locked in a tight election battle Wednesday, with updated results showing their blocs neck-and-neck in the race for parliament.
Maliki's State of Law Alliance and Allawi's Iraqiya list were each on track to garner 87 seats in Iraq's Council of Representatives, with less than 9,000 votes separating the two nationwide, according to an AFP calculation based on results released after 79 per cent of ballots had been counted.
But votes cast outside Iraq and during special voting for the security forces, the sick and prisoners have not yet been tabulated by Iraq's election commission and could still dramatically affect the outcome.
The election, the second since Saddam Hussein was ousted in the US-led invasion of 2003, comes less than six months before the United States is set to withdraw all of its combat troops from Iraq.
An ally of the incumbent charged Thursday that the count had been plagued by widespread fraud and demanded a nationwide recount.
"There has been clear manipulation inside the election commission in the interests of a certain or a specific list," said Adeeb, a candidate for State of Law in the predominantly Shiite central province of Karbala.
"State of Law demands the counting process be repeated to be sure that there has been no manipulation."
Adeeb described Iraqiya's progress as "like a miracle".
His remarks were a marked departure from Maliki's own just days earlier, when he dismissed allegations of fraud as "very small" on television in his first public appearance since his office announced he had undergone surgery for an unspecified ailment.