Shiites claim 50% of vote
Iraqi election commission officials today announced the final results from the country’s landmark January 30 balloting, and the majority Shiites claimed to have won more than 50% of the vote.
Officials reported only 3,775 valid votes were cast in insurgency-plagued Sunni province of Anbar, compared to Kurdish-ruled Northern Iraq where 1.75 million votes were polled.
The officials did not immediately provide overall vote totals for the country, instead giving province-by-province figures in the balloting for 275 National Assembly seats.
The results released today will not be certified for three days, officials said.
The balloting was the first free election in Iraq in more than 50 years and the first since Saddam Hussein was ousted from power after the US-led invasion in 2003.
