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Iraq's Forward Alliance maintain lead after vote recount

BAGHDAD, Aug 9 (KUNA) -- The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced on Thursday the results of the manual vote recount of t May 12 parliamentary elections that came almost identical to the results of electronic counting.
The Forward (Saairun) Alliance, backed by the Sadrist movement, maintained their lead winning 23.4 percent of the seats of the Council of Representatives.
The results of the manual recount were 100 percent identical of the electronic count in 13 governorates; these are Irbil, Suleimaniyah, Al-Diwaniyah, Al-Muthanna, Al-Najaf, Babel, Dahuk, Diyala, Karbala, Kirkuk, Basra, Misan and Wasit, according to an IHEC statement. The results were 99 percent identical in the capital city of Baghdad where only one seat changed hands from Baghdad alliance to the Conquest alliance.
In Dhi Qar, Nineveh, Saladin and Al-Anbar four seats changed hands to hopefuls from the same blocs.
The Iraqi parliament, acting on complaints of electoral fraud, decided on June 6 to conduct a manual recount and tasked new judges to lead the process and take charge of the IHEC.
The Forward Alliance won 54 out of the 329 seats of the legislature, the Conquest Coalition came second with 48 seats, and the Victory Coalition, led by Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, came third with 42 seats. (end) ahh.gb