BAGHDAD, March 19 (NNN-KUNA) — The State of Law coalition of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki regained a narrow lead in Iraq’s general election after 89 per cent of votes were counted on Thursday.

The announcement was made in a press conference by the Iraqi Higher Voting Committee.

Member of the committee Karim Al-Tamimi said that the committee will be investigating complaint claims in cooperation with the UN international assistance team, made on the voting process in and outside of Iraq.

He indicated that 274 complaints were made domestically, while 272 were made abroad.

For his part, committee spokesperson, Qassim Aboudy said that results are probably to be announced on Friday, or no later than Saturday, with full results in the coming days.

Meanwhile, in IRBIL, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani called for the formation of a broad-based government to reflect the genuine participation in the elections.

During his meeting with Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) leader and Parliament Speaker Iyad Al-Samarraie, Talabani said: “The IIP is an essential part of the coming government make-up which should represent the components of the new parliament.”

“The coming government should reflect genuine participation,” the president affirmed.

The meeting, held at Talabani’s resort in Docan town, some 50 km northwest of the mainly Kurdish city of al-Sulaimaniya, northeast Iraq, reviewed the post-election developments.

On his part, Al-Samarraie highlighted the importance of the current coordination among the leading political forces in the post-vote period in order to form a government representative of the people’s will.

“The new government has to be able to shoulder its tasks in the coming period which is crucial to the future of Iraq,” he said.

Chairman of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and leader of Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan Massoud Barzani said the position of his party on political alliances was not connected with the number of parliamentary seats; it is rather related to the historical ties with the political forces.

“The party give priority at present to the reorganisation of the Kurds’ house. We are waiting for the final results of the polls to decide on any future coalition,” Barzani said during his meeting with Al-Samarraie here earlier in the day.

– NNN-KUNA

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