Iraqi election objections step up
Sunni Arab and secular political groups in Iraq formed a united front on Wednesday to demand a rerun of last week's election, alleging massive fraud, and said they might otherwise boycott the new parliament to cripple it.
"There was a meeting ... and we all agreed to contest and reject the results of the election," Thaer al-Naqib, an aide to secular former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, told Reuters.
"We want the Electoral Commission dissolved and the election rerun across Iraq," he said. "We will take to the streets if necessary. We might even not take up our seats in the new parliament and so any new government would be illegitimate."
Actual rerunning of the election is pretty much out of the question. But the US may put pressure on the winning party to share more power to satisfy some of these complaints. Particularly if it looks like the Sunni groups might actually drop out of the new government.
Jay
