Iraq’s Supreme Court on Tuesday took the first major step toward resolving the nation’s election crisis, ratifying the results and declaring a secular alliance the biggest winner in the March 7 parliamentary vote.
Despite the official court approval of the results, the government impasse remains far from over as it could take weeks if not months before legislators choose new leaders. Announcing the certification, Chief Judge Midhat al-Mahmoud described as “reliable” election results that gave 91 seats to the Iraqiya political alliance led by Mr Ayad Allawi, a former Prime Minister and secular Shia. The alliance is heavily backed by Iraq’s once-dominant Sunni Arab minority.
Based on those results, “we decided to ratify the final results of the general Parliament elections for 2010,” Mr al-Mahmoud told a news conference at the Supreme Court. Iraqiya won two more seats than its top rival, the State of Law coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But none of Iraq’s major political coalitions captured an outright majority in the 325-seat legislature, leaving the country in a political vacuum.
Iraq’s next government will be tasked with overseeing a massive US military withdrawal from the war-battered nation and its fledgling democracy, with the number of American troops to shrink to 50,000 by the end of August.
A security agreement requires all US troops to leave by the end of 2011. Iraqi, US and UN officials alike fear the political void could lead to widespread violence as insurgents and extremists seek to take advantage of the chaos as the American troops leave. In a statement, the US embassy in Baghdad called Tuesday’s court ruling “an important step in the right direction as Iraq undertakes what will be a historic and peaceful transition of power from one elected government to another.”
Frustrated with its second-place finish, State of Law has demanded ballot recounts, charges of fraud and court challenges in an unsuccessful bid to pick up more seats and knock Iraqiya out of the lead. Hussein al-Shaalan, a senior Shia politician from Iraqiya, said Tuesday’s ruling should ensure that “we will stay the biggest bloc” once Parliament meets.