Sunni leader open to coalition government
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-17 10:00

Jawad al-Maliki, a prominent Shiite legislator, said there was "no doubt that initial results show that we will be the strong bloc" but that a coalition would probably be required — possibly with some Sunnis.

Another Shiite politician, Mouwafak al-Rubaie, said the Shiites would try to form an "inclusive" government even if they don't have to. He accused "some foreign embassies" of "working very hard" to manipulate the results.

Although violence was low on election day, the U.S. Marines said a mortar attack Friday killed an Iraqi soldier and four children playing soccer in a school yard that was a polling station in the western Euphrates River valley town of Parwana. Two children were injured.

About five explosions were heard in central Baghdad on Friday, one of them from a mortar shell which police said wounded three people near an Interior Ministry building.

During a press conference, election spokesman Ezzeddin al-Mohamady said authorities had received 178 election complaints so far, including 35 allegations of "violent interference" by police, soldiers or election workers.

He said most of the rest, 101, were related to campaigning violations such as using religious symbols in campaign ads.

"Until now, we have not received any complaints about fraud," al-Mohamady said.

But Nour Eddin Saeed al-Heyaly, an official of a major Sunni Arab party, claimed 80 Iraqi army soldiers — mostly Kurds — voted twice in one northern town. He also said Iraqi soldiers prevented his party's officials from entering another northern city, Tal Afar. Most soldiers in the area are Shiites or Kurds.

A Western official in Baghdad said the number of complaints was higher than in the January election and the October constitutional referendum but gave no comparative figures. The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the irregularities were not expected to affect the outcome but were considered serious.