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Sunni Alliance Challenges Iraq's Partial Vote Count
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=104062D:3919ACA Iraqi Consensus
Front says preliminary results did not match those recorded by their
own monitors in Baghdad province





Iraqi election officials start the vote count at a polling station in
Baghdad, Thursday Dec. 15, 2005 Iraq's main Sunni Arab political
coalition has challenged partial results from last week's
parliamentary elections.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Iraqi Consensus Front said the
preliminary results announced Monday did not match those recorded by
their own monitors in Baghdad province.

According to partial results, the Sunni coalition has won about 19
percent of the votes in Baghdad province - trailing far behind the
Shi'ite-led United Iraqi Alliance, which won 59 percent of the votes.

Results announced so far, on Monday, account for about 90 percent of
the ballots cast last week in 11 of Iraq's 18 provinces. They show
strong support for the Shi'ite alliance, with Iraqi voters mostly
divided along religious and ethnic lines.



Voters were choosing members of a new legislature that will have a
full four-year term of office.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.


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