TIMELINE-Former PM Allawi wins Iraqi election

FACTBOX-Five facts about Iraq's Iyad Allawi
26 Mar 2010 19:45:12 GMT
Source: Reuters
BAGHDAD, March 26 (Reuters) - As leader of the largest bloc in the new Iraqi parliament, secularist former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi will be the first to try to form a government.

Allawi, 64, ran on a nationalist platform, hoping to capitalise on widespread disenchantment with the Islamist parties that have dominated the political scene since 2003.

Here are five facts about Allawi:

* A secular Shi'ite, Allawi headed a transitional government in 2004 and 2005, when the United States pulled the strings and Iraq was on the verge of a sectarian civil war.

* A fluent English speaker, Allawi received a medical degree in London. He spent more than 30 years in exile and returned as a U.S. ally after the invasion.

* Allawi, a former member of the now-outlawed Baath party, says he survived a 1987 assassination attempt in London by Baathist agents when Saddam Hussein was in power.

* He has become a leading critic of the U.S. invasion and of the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. He accuses it of failing to provide better services and security and to reduce unemployment after almost four years in office.

* He was once also highly critical of Iran for meddling in Iraq and supporting Shi'ite militia, but he is reported to have sought to mend fences with Tehran. A visit he paid to Saudi Arabia before the election sparked controversy among Iraqis suspicious of foreign interference. (Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Jon Hemming)


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26 Mar 2010 19:31:12 GMT
Source: Reuters
March 26 (Reuters) - Iraq announced on Friday that former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya coalition won the most seats in the March 7 parliamentary elections. Here is a timeline of Iraq since the U.S. led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein.

2003

March 20 - U.S. and British forces invade from Kuwait.

April 9 - U.S. troops take Baghdad, Saddam disappears.

July 13 - The Iraqi Governing Council -- 25 Iraqis chosen under U.S. supervision -- holds inaugural meeting in Baghdad.

Aug. 19 - Suicide truck bomb at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad kills 22 people, including U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Dec. 13 - U.S. troops capture Saddam near Tikrit. U.S. governor of Iraq Paul Bremer breaks news with: "We got him."

2004

March 8 - Governing Council signs interim constitution.

June 1 - Governing Council dissolved to make way for interim government led by Iyad Allawi. Ghazi al-Yawar named president.

June 28 - United States formally returns sovereignty. Coalition Provisional Authority dissolved. Bremer leaves Iraq.

2005

Jan. 30 - Shi'ite-led United Iraqi Alliance dominates vote for local council and interim parliament. Most Sunnis do not vote.

March 16 - National Assembly holds first meeting.

Oct. 15 - Referendum ratifies constitution by 78 percent despite Sunni Arab opposition which nearly vetoes it.

Dec. 15 - Parliamentary election. More Sunnis vote this time than in the provincial election.

2006

Feb. 10 - Final results give Shi'ite-led UIA near majority with 128 seats. Sunni Arabs have 58 and Kurds 53.

Feb. 22 - Bombing of Shi'ite shrine in Samarra sparks widespread sectarian violence, raising fears of civil war.

June 7 - U.S. aircraft kill al Qaeda in Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Nov. 5 - A Baghdad court finds Saddam guilty of crimes against humanity. He is executed on Dec. 30.

2007

May 28 - Iranian and U.S. ambassadors to Iraq meet in Baghdad to discuss ways to improve security in the country. The talks end a three-decade diplomatic freeze between the two foes.

June 15 - U.S. military says it has completed its troop build-up, or "surge", to 160,000 soldiers to quell violence.

Aug. 1 - The main Sunni Arab bloc pulls out of Maliki's cabinet, plunging the government into crisis.

Aug. 14 - Truck bombings against the minority Yazidi community in northern Iraq kill more than 400 people. The bombings are the deadliest militant attacks in Iraq since 2003.

Aug. 29 - Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr imposes ceasefire on Mehdi Army militia for six months after clashes with police.

2008

Jan. 12 - Parliament votes for junior members of Saddam's Baath Party to return to government jobs, a benchmark of reconciliation.

March 25 - Maliki launches crackdown on militias in Basra, sparking battles with Sadr's Mehdi Army. Fighting rages for a week in south Iraq and many weeks in Baghdad, killing hundreds, but Mehdi army is eventually defeated and Sadr disbands it.

July 19 - Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc rejoins the government when parliament approves its candidates for ministerial posts.

Nov. 17 - Iraq and the United States sign an accord requiring Washington to withdraw its forces by the end of 2011. The pact gives the government authority over the U.S. mission for the first time, replacing a U.N. Security Council mandate.

2009

Jan. 1 - U.S.-Iraq security pact comes into force, placing the roughly 140,000 U.S. troops under Iraqi authority.

Jan. 31 - Iraq holds provincial elections, the most peaceful vote since the fall of Saddam, demonstrating big security gains. Results show Maliki's nationalist coalition scores big victory at the expense of sectarian and federalist parties.

Feb. 27 - U.S. President Barack Obama announces plan to end U.S. combat operations in Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, but says will leave up to 50,000 troops to fight insurgents and train Iraqi forces. He makes an unannounced visit to Baghdad on April 7.

June 30 - Iraqi forces assume responsibility for securing cities after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from urban areas.

Aug. 19 - Suicide bombers targeting the foreign and finance ministries kill at least 95 people in Baghdad.

Oct. 1 - Maliki announces his State of Law coalition will run against former Shi'ite allies in national elections.

Oct. 25 - Twin car bombs target the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad provincial government building, killing at least 155 people and wounding more than 500 in central Baghdad.

Dec. 8 - Four car bombs explode in Baghdad striking government buildings despite a security crackdown, killing at least 112 people and wounding 425.

- Hours later, Iraq sets March 7, 2010 as the long awaited date for a general election.

2010

January - The Justice and Accountability Commission, a body that replaced a "de-Baathification" committee established after the U.S. invasion, bars nearly 500 candidates from the March 7 parliamentary vote.

Jan. 25 - Suicide bombers target three landmark hotels. More than 30 people are killed.

March 7 - Parliamentary elections.

March 26 - Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya coalition wins 91 seats, two more than Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc. (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)


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Iraqi panel orders vote recount in Baghdad
19 Apr 2010 13:31:08 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Baghdad a key prize

* Recount could alter election results

* Sunni-backed bloc says ruling undermines vote

(Adds reaction)

By Ahmed Rasheed and Suadad al-Salhy

BAGHDAD, April 19 (Reuters) - A panel on Monday ordered a recount of ballots cast in Baghdad in Iraq's March 7 election, raising the prospect of a change in the results that gave a cross-sectarian group backed by minority Sunnis a slim lead.

Any revision could inflame sectarian tensions at a time when Iraq is emerging from the worst of the fighting between Sunnis and majority Shi'ites that was unleashed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Electoral commissioner Hamdiya al-Husseini said the manual recount of more than 2.5 million ballots would begin immediately but she was not sure how long it would take.

The capital accounts for over a fifth of seats in the 325-seat parliament, making it a key prize, and Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law alliance had sought a recount after coming a close second in the election.

"We expect that this will change the results for the benefit of State of Law," said Kamal el-Saadi, a senior member of Maliki's coalition.

Seen as a milestone for Iraq as it signs multibillion-dollar deals with global oil firms to develop its vast crude reserves and as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw, last month's ballot produced no outright winner.

The Iraqiya list of former prime minister Iyad Allawi came in first with 91 seats, according to preliminary results, after winning the broad backing of Sunnis frustrated at the rise of Shi'ite political supremacy since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Maliki's State of Law won 89 seats while erstwhile Shi'ite allies grouped in the Iraqi National Alliance got around 70. Minority Kurds who enjoy virtual autonomy in the north collectively control about 58 seats.

The blocs have been involved in negotiations to form coalitions to create a working majority in the next parliament and select a prime minister. Those talks are likely to be put on hold until the vote recount is concluded and the various factions know how strong their hands are.

'EDGE OF PRECIPICE'

Maliki's alliance and the INA, led by religious parties with close ties to Tehran, have been inching toward a union that could sideline Allawi, a step that would likely anger Sunnis.

While Allawi is a Shi'ite Muslim, Sunni supporters regard his strong showing in the election as a vindication of their claim that they deserve to exert greater influence over Iraq than they feel they have been granted in the last seven years. Haider al-Mulla, a member of a Sunni party within Allawi's coalition, said the ruling by the review panel showed that Maliki's government had undue influence over the judiciary.

"This decision will result in consequences which throw the legality of the election on the edge of a precipice and threaten the entire political process," Mulla said.

Husseini of the independent electoral commission said it was only votes in Baghdad that were going to be retallied.

"Most of the appeals were about the results in Baghdad and for this reason they only decided to order a recount in Baghdad," she told Reuters.

Tariq Harb, a lawyer for the State of Law, said it presented 24 boxes of files containing proof of voting irregularities to the review panel hearing complaints about the election.

The panel has to finish reviewing more than 300 complaints filed by various parties before the election results can be certified. That could take several more weeks, officials said. (Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim; Writing by Michael Christie; editing by Noah Barkin)