Iraq election result hit by fresh delays

Move follows further claims of vote-rigging
Maliki named frontrunner as groups lay out demands
The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki (left) and former prime minister Iyad Allawi
The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki (left) is reportedly slightly ahead of former prime minister Iyad Allawi in the election count. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Iraq's electoral body said it would review all data in the recent general election, delaying yet again the declaration of a result that was expected and is thought to narrowly favour the coalition of the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, over his secular rival, Iyad Allawi.

The review falls short of the full recount demanded by Maliki's State of Law bloc, but adds another layer of uncertainty to a painstaking 11-day count that has been riddled with delays and claims of vote rigging. It also follows conflicting accounts of who is the frontrunner, with Allawi's entourage still maintaining they are within striking distance of the lead, with 80% of the national vote counted.

"It will be close, believe me," Allawi said on the eve of the election. "This could take many months to sort out."

Ahead of what was expected to be a watershed in post-Saddam Iraq, the potential kingmakers gave the first indications of their demands during the horse-trading that will follow a winner being declared.

Loyalists of Moqtadr al-Sadr, the exiled Shia cleric, said they could countenance joining Maliki's coalition to form a government but only if the prime minister was not given a second term. The Sadrist bloc, which was ostracised by Maliki and denounced by the US as a spent force, has emerged from the ballot unscathed. It is likely to win up to 40 seats in the new 325-seat parliament, proving difficult to avoid in any coalition negotiations.

Before the election, the State of Law bloc had banked on enough seats to be able to ignore the Sadrist power base. Even after polling stations closed, Maliki's supporters were talking down Sadr's relevance.

However, despite the close final outcome, the support of loyalists in the 1.5 million Shia slum zone of Sadr City makes the Sadrists a potent political force. The Sadrists went to the election allied with the conservative Shia grouping, the Iraqi National Alliance. However, a leading Sadrist and former health minister, Hakim al-Zamili, said: "If the list wants to ally with Malikis, then we will agree."