Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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At Least 3 Challenges Filed Against Iraq Election Results
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=B9F4C9:2AB91D3

World leaders praised the results and urged the winning parties not to
worsen religious and ethnic tensions in the country Iraq's Electoral
Commission says it has received at least three complaints from
political groups challenging the results of last month's national
elections.

The commission, which announced election results Sunday, has given the
parties three days to file complaints before it would certify the
results and announce the allocation of seats in the 275-member interim
national assembly.

A mainly Shi'ite Muslim coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, won the
largest share of the eight million votes, but fell just short of an
outright majority.  A Kurdish coalition finished second, and
allies of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi came third.

Shi'ite politicians said Tuesday that the leader of the influential
Dawa Islamic party, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, will likely be the United
Iraqi Alliance's candidate for prime minister.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry says kidnappers have freed
Turkish shipping magnate Kahraman Sadikoglu, who was abducted in
southern Iraq in December.

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.


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