March 22, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): On Sunday, Iraq’s president called for a recount in this month’s parliamentary elections. The elections have turned into a somewhat race between the prime minister and a secular rival between accusations of fraud. With a new count, there could be an extension in political backbiting in the controversial pursuit.

President Jalal Talabani demanded for this a day after Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki backed the idea by asking the election commission which is in charge of counting to respond to requests of a recount quickly. It is still unclear if Talabani and al-Maliki’s demands, which have come before the finishing of the first count, will hold any value.

The calls were dismissed by the election commission, which urged the political parties to be patient and lodge their complaints through appropriate channels. According to commission chief, Faraj-al-Haidari, it wasn’t possible for a political entity to start believing that there was a mistake at a particular polling station and then demand for a manual recount for a whole city or for the whole of Iraq.

Iraq’s president on Sunday called for a recount in this month’s parliamentary elections, which have turned into a tight race between the prime minister and a secular rival amid accusations of fraud. A new count could further extend political wrangling in the contentious race.

The demand from President Jalal Talabani came a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared to back the idea by calling on the election commission overseeing the counting to quickly respond to requests from political blocs for a recount.

The demands are the latest twist to an election that will determine who will govern the country as U.S. troops go home. Counting since the March 7 vote has been slow and plagued with confusion and disarray, fueling claims of fraud, though international observers have said the vote and count have been fair.

It remained unclear what the demands from Talabani and al-Maliki, which come before the first count has been finished, would produce.

The electoral commission - an independent body appointed by parliament - swiftly dismissed the calls and urged political parties to be patient and lodge their complaints through the appropriate channels.

According to Talabani, the demand was being made to dismiss any doubt or misunderstanding about the results and that he was doing this as the president of the state.
Al-Maliki stated that the recount was to protect the democratic experiment and maintain the credibility of elections.

According to the partial results, al-Maliki’s challenger, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi winning with 11,346 votes - a slim margin over the prime minister’s coalition in the overall tally with 95 percent of the ballots counted. But al-Maliki is still winning in 7 out of 18 provinces in Iraq. Both Allawi as well al-Maliki’s list have claimed that there is fraud in the counting.

According to Al-Haidari, the results of the 100 percent count would be released on Friday evening. The Supreme Court will certify the results after they have been tallied and after the complaints have been reviewed.