BAGHDAD — Iraq’s national election results were finalized Tuesday, nearly three months after a parliamentary poll heightened sectarian divisions and generated confusion about the formation of the next government.
The outcome announ ced by Iraq’s Supreme Court was unchanged from the preliminary result released in March.
The election gave a narrow, inconclusive edge to a mostly Sunni coalition headed by secular former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, with 91 seats, compared with 89 seats for the Shiite slate headed by incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Within 15 days, President Jalal Talabani is supposed to summon the new parliament for its first session, at which the 325 legislators are to choose a speaker and two deputies.
Within 30 days of that first meeting, parliament is to elect a new president, who is then empowered to ask the leader of the biggest bloc in parliament to name a prime minister and form a new government.
Los Angeles Times
