2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Northern Illinois
The Cyclone Defense again flexed it's muscles holding for a three and out taking the ball over on a punt deep in their own territory. Austen Arnaud would be picked off on the resulting drive setting up the Huskies with excellent field position right before the half. Again, a strong Cyclone Defense stiffened holding to three plays setting up a fourth down field goal attempt for the Huskies at the ISU 16. Coach Paul Rhoads would ice the Huskies on twice before the 33 yard attempt failed (as did the previous two attempts). The Cyclones took a 17–0 lead into the half.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Northern Illinois
The Huskies came out of the locker room ready, driving 67 yds on the opening drive of the second half in 10 plays down to the ISU 2 yard line. On the next three plays the Cyclone Defense held firm, not giving up a single yard forcing the Huskies to attempt a field goal. The chip shot was good cutting into the Iowa State lead, 17–3. ISU and NIU would exchange interceptions, each deep inside the opponents' territory to close out the third quarter.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Northern Illinois
The Cyclones entered the fourth with the ball but the drive stalled forcing the only punt of the evening for the Cyclones, an 18 yarder, giving the ball back to the Huskies at the ISU 40. The Huskies would finally capitalize on the excellent field position, capping off a 9 play 40 yd drive with a touchdown to cut the lead to 17–10 early in the fourth quarter. With the lead shrinking the Cyclones needed a score after being held without points since the 8:30 mark in the 2nd Quarter, and they responded.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Northern Illinois
The Cyclones offense drove down the field capping off a 73 yd drive on 10 plays with a 5 yd run by Robinson for his second touchdown of the game. The extra point pushed the lead to 24–10. With time running out, the Huskies took over at their own twenty following the touchback, and on the second play of the possession threw an interception to ISU's Jake Knott and returned it to the NIU 13. The Cyclones pushed the ball forward to the 5 yd line facing a 4th and 2 situation. The Cyclones called on Mahoney, nailing a 23 yd field goal attempt making the score 27–10. A three and out by the Huskies gave the ball back to the Cyclones, and ISU ran out the clock.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Iowa
The Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones last met in the previous season, with Iowa winning 35–3. Iowa leads the all-time series 38–19. The winner will receive the Cy-Hawk Trophy.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Kansas State
The Kansas State Wildcats and the Iowa State Cyclones last met up in Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. A back and forth game eventually ended up the Cyclones having the last chance for victory but fell short with the final score 27–20 Kansas State.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Northern Iowa
The Northern Iowa Panthers marked the fourth game on the Cyclones schedule. The Cyclones started slow, having a three and out to the Panther defense. Well the Panthers took over and moved the ball down field, a turnover would give the ball back to the Cyclones. The Cyclones in turn would take it down into Panther territory before settling for a field goal. But the Cyclones never looked back. The Cyclones took a 13–0 lead into the half and two "pick 6's" in the third quarter would put the game out of reach for they Panthers. While the Panthers moved the ball quite well, the Cyclone's defense stiffened when it needed to, forcing five Panther turnovers. The Cyclones shut out the Panthers 27–0, marking the first shutout victory since a 23–0 victory over the same UNI Panthers in 2004.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Texas Tech
The Red Raiders came into Jack Trice Stadium holding a 2–1 record with the lone loss coming in conference play. The game appeared it would be a struggle early, with each defense shutting down the opposing offense. That quickly changed as the Cyclones motored out to a 24–0 lead with all points scored in the first 12 minutes of the second quarter. Tech showed fight right before half driving down field quickly to score their first TD with 0:45 seconds left.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Texas Tech
They Cyclones were held on their next three plays from scrimmage faced a punting situation, the snap went over the head of the punter and would be turned over to the Red Raiders. The Red Raiders' second TD would come two plays later cutting the Cyclone lead to 24–14 at half. Tech came out of the half fired up and quickly tied the game at 24 a piece with five minutes remaining in the 3rd. The Cyclones responded driving down field in five plays to score their 4th TD.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Texas Tech
A Tech fumble on the ensuing drive set up good field position for the Cyclones. They only needed one play, a 60 yd scamper to the endzone to take a two TD lead. Tech would cut the score to one possession at 38–31. The next possession for the Cyclones would be drawn out for a long six minutes as time wound down in the 4th quarter. A short TD pass would put the Cyclones up 45–31.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Texas Tech
With a little under four minutes left in the game Tech would drive the field in about two minutes and cut the lead back down to seven. With only a minute and a half remaining on the clock, Tech was forced to onside. On the ensuing kickoff, Jeremy Reeves would corral the ball and see daylight, scampering down the left sideline for an inexplicable Iowa State touchdown, Their First on a Kickoff return since 1994, and only the second ever in Jack Trice Stadium History. This would be the final dagger. Iowa State would win 52–38. This would end up being the most points scored in a game by the Cyclones in more than a decade... most in a conference game since the 1970s. The win puts the overall series record at 2–6.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Utah
The first of three ranked foe faced the Cyclones in a brutal upcoming schedule. The #10 Utah Utes came to Jack Trice Stadium having never beaten Iowa State. After a competitive first quarter of the game with each team trading off scoring drives, the game quickly got out of hand for Iowa State. The Cyclones took a 14–10 lead into the second quarter. That's when the Utes would begin scoring at will, collecting 31 unanswered points in the 2nd quarter alone. Utah lead at the half 41–14.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Utah
Utah picked up right where they left off kicking another field goal before Iowa State could get to the board again. After the 3rd the score stood at 58–20. The Utes picked up their first victory ever against the Cyclones as they closed out the game with an impressive 68–27 final.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Texas
The Cyclones picked up their first victory ever against the Texas Longhorns. This also marks the first time a game crowd of over 100,000 people watched a Cyclone victory.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Kansas
The Cyclones came out in the first half flat, only giving up a fumble and two 'three and outs' on three possessions in the first quarter. The Jayhawks took a 6–0 lead on field goals to close out the first. The only bright spot for the Cyclones in the first half came from Josh Lenz in the second quarter as he returned a punt for touchdown. Kansas led 9–7 at the half with a last second field goal to close the half.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Kansas
From there on, the Cyclones took over, rattling off 21 unanswered points in the 3rd quarter to take a commanding lead. A Kansas score with 10 seconds left in the 4th quarter cut the score to 28–16 in the Cyclone's victory. This was the first Cyclone win against the Jayhawks since a 13–7 win in Ames in 2004.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Game summaries, Nebraska
This game marks the last regularly scheduled game of a 105-year-old rivalry between the Cyclones and Cornhuskers. Nebraska will join the Big Ten in 2011. The game ended when ISU failed to convert a fake extra point in OT to win the game.


2010 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Coaching staff
Paul Rhoads was hired on December 20, 2008 to be Iowa State's new head coach. His contract was reported to be a 5-year deal worth $5.75 million.


2010 Iowa gubernatorial election
The 2010 Iowa gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 to elect the governor and lieutenant governor, to serve a four-year term beginning on January 14, 2011. In Iowa, the governor and lieutenant governor are elected on the same ballot.


2010 Iowa gubernatorial election
The two major party candidates were first-term incumbent governor Chet Culver, a Democrat, who ran for re-election with first-term incumbent lieutenant governor Patty Judge, and former four-term governor Terry Branstad, who won a three-way primary for the Republican nomination and ran with State Senator Kim Reynolds.


2010 Iowa gubernatorial election
Branstad defeated Culver in the general election, becoming the first challenger to unseat an incumbent Iowa governor since Harold Hughes in 1962.


2010 Ipswich Borough Council election
Elections for Ipswich Borough Council were held on Thursday 6 May 2010. One third of the seats were up for election and the council remained under no overall control, with Labour as the largest party.


2010 Ipswich Borough Council election
The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, which had governed Ipswich since 2004, continued in office.


2010 Iran Futsal's 2nd Division
The 2010 Iranian Futsal 1st Division will be divided into two phases..


2010 Iran Futsal's 2nd Division
The league will also be composed of 20 teams divided into two divisions of 10 teams each, whose teams will be divided geographically. Teams will play only other teams in their own division, once at home and once away for a total of 20 matches each.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights
On July 26, 2010, seventeen prisoners from Ward 350 of Evin prison, Iran, executed a 16-day hunger strike to protest solitary confinement, as well as the poor living conditions within the prison. This included the lack of necessary medical treatment, arbitrary detention, denial of access to legal counsel, suspension of visitation privileges and abuse from prison guards. Subsequent to the hunger strike, authorities placed the seventeen prisoners in solitary confinement in Ward 240, while also prohibiting them from making phone calls, visiting their families, or contacting their lawyers. Overall, the action did not achieve its objectives of improving conditions within the prison or gaining access to legal counsel. However, one of the prisoners on strike, Babak Bordbar, was released for unknown reasons on August 10.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Background
On June 12, 2009, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with 62% of the vote. Large irregularities in these results, including a voter turnout of over 100% in both provinces of Mazandaran and Yazd, led many people to affirm that the election was both fraudulent and undemocratic. This event led to several protests resulting in hundreds of arrests, casualties and deaths; while also triggering the Iranian Green Movement, a political campaign defined by peace and democracy that demanded the removal of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from office. Within a few days of protest and unrest, thousands of opposition groups and reformist politicians were sent to Evin, a political prison known for its generational populations of activists, journalists and human rights defenders.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Background, Hunger strike
On July 26, 2010, seventeen prisoners from Ward 350 of Evin prison executed a 16-day hunger strike to protest solitary confinement as well as the poor living conditions within the prison, including lack of necessary medical treatment, arbitrary detention, denial of access to legal counsel,  suspension of visitation privileges and abuse from prison guards These seventeen prisoners included:


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Background, Hunger strike, Response
Subsequent to the hunger strike, authorities placed the seventeen prisoners in solitary confinement in Ward 240, while also prohibiting them from making phone calls, visiting their families, or contacting their lawyers.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Timeline
On August 2, 2010, relatives of the prisoners attempted to visit Evin, but were forced to leave the premises by authorities.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Timeline
On August 4, 2010, family members of the 17 prisoners organized a march to the office of Jeafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran General Prosecutor and demanded their relatives' release from solitary confinement.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Timeline
On that same day, three of the 17 prisoners went from a wet hunger strike to a dry hunger strike, thus refusing to consume both solids and liquids.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Timeline
On August 7, 2010, prison authorities released Babak Bordbar, one of the 17 political prisoners on strike.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Timeline
On August 8, the father of one of the hunger strikers, Ali Parviz, was arrested for submitting a letter to the Iranian judiciary on behalf of the political prisoners imploring for improved treatment.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Timeline
On August 11, 15 of the prisoners ended their hunger strikes and released a statement specifying that they annulled their hunger strike out of respect to the leaders of the Green Revolution who urged them to cease their fasting to "provide movement leadership".


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Timeline
After the hunger strike ended, prisoners were forced into solitary confinement for an indefinite time period by prison authorities. Though Iranian law only allows a maximum of 20 days in solitary confinement, five out of the 17 prisoners were threatened with an increased sentence of 6 months. As of today, the majority of the 17 prisoners remain imprisoned in Evin, while a few were transferred to Rajaeeshahr prison on August 15.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Timeline
On 20 December 2018 Human rights Watch urged the regime in Iran to investigate and find an explanation for the death of Vahid Sayadi Nasiri who had been jailed for insulting the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. According to his family Nasiri had been on hunger strike but he was denied medical attention before he died.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Outcomes
Overall, the action did not achieve its objectives of improving conditions within the prison or gaining access to legal counsel. However, one of the prisoners on strike, Babak Bordbar, was released for unknown reasons on August 10.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Outcomes, Other responses
Since the Islamic Iranian Revolution of 1979, several lawyers, journalists and activists have been imprisoned for ambiguously defined charges such as "spreading propaganda against the regime", or "insulting the Supreme Leader". Moreover, many fundamental rights of those imprisoned are violated, such as access to legal counsel or freedom from arbitrary imprisonment.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Outcomes, Other responses
Human rights violations within Iranian prisons have stimulated many criticisms and controversies among the international community.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Outcomes, Other responses
In 2004, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention likened Iran's use of solitary confinement to the Convention Against Torture's definition of inhumane treatment.


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Outcomes, Other responses
In 2014, the Canadian parliament qualified the prison conditions and the systematic use of torture for extracting confessions as a "crime against humanity."


2010 Iranian political prisoners' hunger strike for prisoners' rights, Outcomes, Other responses
The UN identifies several other practices of the Iranian government that infringe on elements of human rights law, such as right to life, right to freedom and association, and freedom from cruel punishment.


2010 Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement referendum
A referendum on the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the United States and Iraq was due to be held in Iraq in 2010. Contrary to expectations, it was not held on 7 March 2010 together with parliamentary elections; it was originally due on 30 July 2009.


2010 Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement referendum, Agreement
The Agreement was necessary as the legal authority for the presence of the United States' troops - the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1790 - expired on 31 December 2008.


2010 Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement referendum, Agreement
Under the agreement, the United States' Army must withdraw from all cities by mid-2009 and from Iraq altogether by the end of 2011. Iraqi courts will be able to try crimes committed by off-duty soldiers outside their bases. The United States would not be allowed to use Iraq as a base to attack any other state - a response to a recent bombing of Syria  - and the Iraqi Army would have control over the operations and movements of the United States' army.


2010 Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement referendum, Agreement
The Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, said the agreement would restore "full sovereignty" to Iraq by 2011.


2010 Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement referendum, Agreement
The draft Bill was approved by the Council of Ministers of Iraq on 16 November and sent to the Council of Representatives for approval. The agreement was initialled by Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker on 17 November.


2010 Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement referendum, Agreement
Before the vote in the Council of Representatives of Iraq, the most senior cleric, Ali al-Sistani, said the agreement should have "broad consensus" across all political groups. Following this call, the al-Maliki government tried to persuade the Sunni Arab parties to support the agreement, despite having a sufficient majority in parliament without them.


2010 Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement referendum, Agreement
When the bill came up for its second reading in November, many MPs left the country to go on the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. This was strongly criticised by Sistani, who said MPs should "assume their national and historical responsibility to give their opinion frankly about the agreement". When first debated the vote was shouted down by opponents from the Sadrist Movement, but it was passed the following day.


2010 Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement referendum, Agreement
The Sunni Arab coalitions, the Iraqi Accord Front and the Iraqi National Dialogue Front were reported to be concerned that the departure of the United States' Army would allow the Shi'ite majority to dominate them. They called for the end of the prosecution of Baath party members, the abolition of the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal and that the agreement be put to a referendum the following year. In the end the Maliki government agreed to the referendum and the two groups dropped their other demands.


2010 Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement referendum, Agreement
The small Islamic Virtue Party and the Iraqi National Dialogue Front also opposed the agreement, arguing it "infringed Iraqi sovereignty"


2010 Iraqi Status of Forces Agreement referendum, Agreement
If the referendum result would have been against the SOFA, the Iraqi government would have given notice to end the agreement and US troops would have been required to leave Iraq within one year. "If the Iraqi people reject the pact in the referendum ... the government of Iraq will be committed, according to the law, to the result of the referendum and will convey this will to the American administration. The pact will be annulled," Iraq's Sunni Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi said. The deal can be terminated if either signatory gives the other side a year's notice.


2010 Iraqi government formation
In the aftermath of the 2010 election, great attention was given to the decision on who should be the next Iraqi PM. Both al-Iraqiyya's Allawi and the State of Law coalition's al-Maliki laid claim to the post, so it was seen as up to the Kurdish parties and the Iraqi National Alliance to decide this matter.


2010 Iraqi government formation
One of the two main components of the INA, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, stated it would not join any government that did not include former PM Allawi; the other main component, the Sadrist Movement, held an unofficial referendum on 2 and 3 April 2010 on who should be PM. The possible choices were Allawi, al-Maliki, former PM Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Adel Abdel Mahdi from the SIIC, and Jaafar al-Sadr (a little-known MP from al-Maliki's Dawa Party, son of its ideological founder Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr).


2010 Iraqi government formation
On 7 April 2010, results were announced, according to which al-Jaafari had won with 24% of the vote. Jaafari had originally been a member of al-Maliki's Dawa Party, but had left it in 2008 to found his own party, the National Reform Trend, as whose lone MP he was elected in this election.


2010 Iraqi government formation
The full results of the 1.43 million ballots cast in the unofficial Sadrist referendum were as follows:


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
After months of negotiations the National Iraqi Alliance and the State of Law Coalition agreed to merging into one parliamentary bloc of 159 seats, the bloc would be 4 seats short of a majority but would have the right for government formation. However the bloc has to date still not appointed a prime ministerial candidate. The bloc, called the National Alliance, was formally formed on 11 June 2010. The new parliament opened on 14 June 2010. However, talks between the National Iraqi Alliance and al-Iraqiyya continued. On 3 September 2010 the National Iraqi Alliance nominated Adil Abdul-Mahdi as the coalition's nominee for Prime Minister, making it unclear which candidate the National Alliance bloc would ultimately choose.


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
The President of Iraqi Kurdistan Massoud Barzani announced the four major Kurdish lists: the Kurdistani List, the Gorran List, the Kurdistan Islamic Union and the Islamic Group of Kurdistan agreed to merging into one parliamentary bloc of 57 seats, called the Coalition of Kurdistan Lists or Kurdistan Blocs Coalition (KBC). On 30 October, however the Nawshirwan Mustafa's Gorran Movement (announced their withdrawal from the KBC due to a dispute between Gorran and the ruling KDP-PUK coalition in the Kurdistan Autonomous Republic.


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
This reduced the bloc to 49 seatsIn August the KBC announced 19 demands which would have to be agreed upon by al-Maliki or Allawi for them to join their government. The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq then agreed to all 19 demands. Incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki agreed to 18 out of 19 demands (including implementation of article 140), only disagreeing with the demand that the government were to resign if the Kurdistan Alliance withdraws. Al-Iraqiya, however, rejected 9 of the Kurdish demands, including the demands for a Kurdish presidency, Iraqi government funding of the Peshmerga and for the implementation of article 140 of the Iraqi constitution.


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
Incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki also visited Iran amid drawn out coalition talks. The trip came amid reports from the Los Angeles Times and the Guardian that Iran had been directly involved trying to bring about a Shia coalition by convincing Muqtada al-Sadr to back an al-Maliki-led government, and thus increase Iran's influence in Iraq against those supported by the West. Iyad Allawi's bloc, which won a plurality, would then be sidelined.


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
As such Allawi claimed to CNN that Iran was "trying to wreak havoc on the region, [by] trying to destabilise the region by destabilising Iraq, and destabilising Lebanon and destabilising the Palestinian issue. This is where unfortunately Iraq and the rest of the greater Mideast is falling victim to these terrorists who are definitely Iran-financed and supported by various governments in the region." His deputy was also alleged to have said "Iranian involvement amounts to a takeover of Iraq."


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
While the West expressed worry about Iran's growing influence and potential influence in Iraq, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, in responding to al-Maliki description that mutual relations were strategic and amicable, "Despite relative stability in Iraq, the country is still suffering from insecurity and part of this insecurity is resulted from the pressures that are exerted by some powers whose political interests lie in creating insecurity in Iraq."


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
Following his visit to Iran, al-Maliki also visited Syria, Jordan and Egypt, where he said a new government could be imminent as "discussions are taking place, we are now at the end of the tunnel, at the end of the road. If God allows, this government will emerge soon." A few days later, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad talked to his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani and said he "hope[s] that with the formation of a new Iraqi government, bilateral ties will expand in different areas, especially in the economic and political fields."


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
Saudi Arabia also offered to host an all-party conference in November to break the deadlock in government formation. However, al-Maliki's bloc turned down the proposal amid concerns over foreign interference. The National Alliance issued a statement saying: "Though we express our appreciation to Saudi Arabia for its concern about the situation in Iraq and its willingness to provide support, we would like to confirm Iraqi leaders are continuing their meetings to reach a national consensus." a statement issued by the alliance, said. The Kurdish Alliance also reportedly supported the statement. While Iraqiya welcomed the Saudi initiative.


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
"We ask all political blocs to welcome the initiative, preventing Iraq's security situation from deteriorating." The United States also called for an "inclusive government." It said that Allawi and others from Iraqiya, as well as all the "winning blocs" should hold "leadership posts" in a new government. In early October, the National Alliance (consisting of State of Law and the NIA) nominated Nouri al-Maliki as their Prime Minister candidate after Muqtada al-Sadr and al-Maliki struck a deal together.


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
This however led to a split within the National Alliance (159 seats) as the ISCI-bloc (which including Badr and Hezbollah holds 19 seats), the Islamic Fadhila Party (6 seats) and the Gathering of Justice and Unity (1 seat) left the alliance to create an alliance with Ayad Allawi's al-Iraqiyya (91 seats). The Iraqiyya led bloc nominated prominent ISCI politician and at the time Vice-President Adil Abd al-Mahdi as Prime Minister.


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
Meanwhile, the two minor Sunni blocs, Unity Alliance of Iraq and the Iraqi Accord Front merged into one 10-seat bloc, called the Center Current, which entered into negotiations with both major blocs for coalition partnerships. However, both blocs needed the support of Kurdish parties to gain a parliamentary majority, this support was eventually given to al-Maliki's bloc after he agreed to all 19 Kurdish demands, which led to the re-uniting of the National Alliance.


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
On 24 October, the Supreme Court of Iraq ordered the parliament to reconvene and elect a new speaker. The court ordered a parliamentary speaker to be chosen on 8 November The day before the vote for parliamentary speaker, a power-sharing accord was agreed to that would allow al-Maliki to continues as PM. As talks to form a new government reached a climax al-Maliki and Allawi were scheduled to attend a ceremony in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous region of Kurdistan, to make a formal announcement in regards to the agreement.


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
Iraqiya MP Jamal al-Butikh then said an agreement was reached after assurances that "no political decision would be made without its agreement." At one point, Iraqiya staged a walkout after al-Nujaifi declined a request to vote on the removal of three parliament members' names because of affiliation to the deposed Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party. They later said the walkout was a misunderstanding.


2010 Iraqi government formation, Background
During the parliamentary session on 11 November, Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni Arab from Iraqiya's al-Hadba Party was elected to be parliamentary speaker, with prominent Sadrist leader Qusay al-Suhail chosen as his first deputy and Arif Tayfur (a leading member of Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party) was re-elected to the post of second deputy speaker. Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Jalal Talabani was re-elected as President, al-Maliki was re-elected as prime minister and Allawi had reportedly agreed to head a new security council. Massoud Barzani, the president of Kurdistan region said that it was a great victory for the Iraqi people, which came at a late stage. A third session of the new parliament on 21 November still did not come to an agreement on who would run the new government.


2010 Iraqi government formation, New parliamentary blocs
During the government formation process numerous lists fused together to form larger parliamentary blocs.


2010 Iraqi government formation, New government
On December 22, parliament unanimously approved al-Maliki's new government. Twenty-nine ministers were approved, including Shias, Sunnis and Kurds. In reaction, al-Maliki issued his new government's programme and also vowed to make Iraq a "truly democratic state that respects human rights." However, he criticised the lack of any female nominees and warned that "given the circumstances it has been created under, this government does not satisfy the people nor the needs of our country. The effort and the will to make it work in the best possible way it can is there."


2010 Iraqi government formation, New government
In the new government al-Maliki became acting Minister of Defence, Interior, and National Security. Thus, essentially giving al-Maliki full control of the military. These positions were meant to be temporary until appropriate candidates could be found, however al-Maliki remained in them until the end of his term. Former Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani would become Deputy Prime Minister for Energy. The former Deputy Prime Minister Rafi al-Issawi would become Finance Minister. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari will continue in his post.


2010 Iraqi government formation, New government
Saleh al-Mutlaq was also controversially appointed a Deputy Prime Minister after a ban on him taking part in politics as a former Ba'athist. Thirteen more ministerial posts had acting ministers as al-Maliki said "The formation of national unity government in Iraq is a difficult and hard task because we need to find place in the government for all those who participated and won in the elections."


2010 Iraqi government formation, New government
Following the formation of a government and his blocs strong showing Muqtada al-Sadr returned to Najaf from exile in Iran in early January 2011.


2010 Iraqi government formation, New government, Aftermath
In July 2011 al-Maliki agreed to cut 12 ministries from his cabinet, which was a compromise from his original proposal to cut 16 ministerial portfolios. The agreement comes amid debate over whether or not a US military contingent would remain beyond a 31 December 2011 deadline for their withdrawal.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 7 March 2010. The elections decided the 325 members of the Council of Representatives who would elect the prime minister and president. The elections resulted in a partial victory for the Iraqi National Movement, led by former Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which won 91 seats, making it the largest alliance in the Council. The State of Law Coalition, led by incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, was the second largest grouping with 89 seats.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election
Prior to the election, the Supreme Court in Iraq ruled that the existing electoral law/rule was unconstitutional, and a new elections law made changes in the electoral system. On 15 January 2010, the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) banned 499 candidates from the election due to alleged links with the Ba'ath Party. Before the start of the campaign on 12 February 2010, IHEC confirmed that the appeals by banned candidates had been rejected and thus all 456 banned candidates would not be allowed to run for the election.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election
The turnout was low (62.4%) compared to the elections of 2005 (79.6%). There were numerous allegations of fraud, and a recount of the votes in Baghdad was ordered on 19 April 2010. On 14 May IHEC announced that after 11,298 ballot boxes had been recounted, there was no sign of fraud or violations.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election
The new parliament opened on 14 June 2010. After months of fraught negotiations, an agreement was reached on the formation of a new government on 11 November. Talabani would continue as president, Al-Maliki would stay on as prime minister and Allawi would head a new security council.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system
The necessary election law was only passed on 8 November 2009, and the UN Mission in Iraq, which is helping with the elections, estimated that it needed 90 days to plan for the election. The electoral commission asked for a delay from the original date of 15 January. Iraqi Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi vetoed the election law on 18 November 2009, delaying the election, which was originally scheduled for 21 January.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system
Prior to the election, the Supreme Court in Iraq ruled that the existing electoral rule was unconstitutional. The parliament therefore set about drafting a new electoral law.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system
The Iraqi cabinet approved a draft elections law in September 2009. However, it took two months and ten delays for the law to pass in the Council of Representatives. The main areas of dispute concerned the "open list" electoral system and the voters roll in Kirkuk Governorate, which Arab and Turkmen parties alleged had been manipulated by the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq. It also separated each governorate into its own electoral district, instead of the country as a whole being used as one single district.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Open lists
UNAMI advised the electoral system was changed to allow people to vote for individuals as well as party lists under the open list form of proportional representation. The last national elections had used a closed list system, but the Iraqi governorate elections of 2009 had used open lists.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Open lists
The move was initially supported by parliamentarians from ISCI, and the most senior Iraqi Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, warned that failure to adopt the open list system would have "negative impacts on the democratic process" and would reduce turnout and aides said he may call for a boycott of the polls if closed lists were used again. In the end, all parties except for the Kurdistani Alliance agreed to support open lists which was adopted.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Kirkuk governorate
In Kirkuk Governorate, it was proposed to use old 2004 electoral rolls. However, Kurds protested about this, given the large number of Kurdish people who had settled there since then. UNAMI then proposed that Kirkuk be divided into two or more ethnic constituencies, with the Kurdish constituency given an automatic quota of 50% plus one. When put to parliament, this proposal was blocked by Arab MPs, causing a deadlock. The issue was referred to the Political Council for National Security, which comprises the President, Prime Minister and party leaders.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Kirkuk governorate
The Council proposed to combine the electoral rolls from 2004 and 2009, but when this was put to parliament, it was blocked by Kurds. UNAMI then proposed using the 2009 records but revisiting for future elections. When put to a vote the Kurdish MPs walked out, leaving the parliament without a quorum. The final law said that the results in Kirkuk - and other governorates where the rolls were deemed "dubious" - would be provisional, subject to review within the first year by a committee formed out of the electoral commission, parliament, government and UNAMI, which could cancel fraudulent ballots. The law was passed by a vote of 141 to 54, with 80 members absent.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Seat allocation
The law increased the size of the council from 275 to 325 members – equal to one seat per 100,000 citizens, as specified in the Constitution of Iraq. As with the December 2005 election, seats will be allocated by governorate with additional "compensatory" seats allocated to those parties whose national share of the vote isn't reflected in the seats won at the governorate level. The votes of Iraqis living abroad would originally have been counted in the compensatory seats, which were reduced from 45 seats to 16 and eight of these 16 seats were allocated to specific national minorities – five for Iraqi Christians and one each for Yazidis, Shabak and Mandaeans.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Seat allocation
Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi said the small number of compensatory seats discriminated against the estimated 2 million Iraqi refugees, many of whom are Sunni Arabs like al-Hashimi. He demanded that the number of compensatory seats be increased to 15% (48) and went on national television to say he would veto the law if it weren't amended. Sunni Arab parliamentarian Saleh al-Mutlaq said 30 seats should be allocated to Iraqis abroad to reflect their numbers.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Seat allocation
President Jalal Talabani also supported the increase to 15%, after receiving a letter from Kurdish regional MPs saying their allies from minority groups would be unfairly treated. In the event President Talabani and Vice-President Adel Abdul Mahdi signed the law despite their concerns, but Hashimi followed through his threat and vetoed it.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Seat allocation
Parliament asked the Supreme Federal Court for advice, and it issued a statement saying that "all Iraqis, whether they live in the country or outside its borders, should be represented in the parliament." There was some confusion over this statement with the head of the legal affairs committee interpreted this as annulling the veto. However, Ayad al-Samarrai, the parliamentary speaker said the statement was not binding on parliament because it was advice rather a ruling in response to a complaint. Parliament therefore met to consider the law again. Hundreds of supporters of the Prime Minister held demonstrations against the veto in Najaf, Basra and Wasit.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Seat allocation
The President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, then threatened to boycott the election if the representation of the three provinces in Kurdistan wasn't increased. The provinces had only gained three of the 77 additional seats.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Seat allocation
When the Iraqi Parliament met again they amended the law to provide that Iraqis abroad would vote in the governorate they lived before they left the country. The number of seats per governorate was then changed to increase all governorates by a fixed 2.8% over the 2005 population figures – meaning Kurdish areas got more seats but Sunni Arab areas got fewer. Analysts said Hashemi had "played poker and lost" and an MP from a rival Sunni Arab party said he should go and apologize to the governorates that had lost out. Tribal leaders in the Sunni Arab city of Tikrit threatened to call for a poll boycott if the amended law went through and Hashemi said he would veto again.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Seat allocation
Internally displaced people will only be allowed to vote where their ration card was issued, a provision that Taha Daraa, MP in Diyala, said discriminated against them and was unconstitutional. He called on the constitutional court to strike down the provision.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Seat allocation
Head of IHEC, Faraj Al Haydari, announced that curfew will be imposed and airports closed on the day of elections. The head of the IHEC electoral directorate, Haydar Al Abboudi, said he hoped to announce the results of elections three days later.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Electoral system, Seat allocation
The council agreed to increase the number of seats from 275 to 325. With this, the number of seats allocated to each governorate were changed from 2005 elections.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions
The United Iraqi Alliance, made up primarily of religious Shi'ite parties, won 128 out of 275 seats in the previous election and was the largest party in the parliament. The list split into two lists for this election: the State of Law Coalition of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the National Iraqi Alliance, which included most of the other parties. In total 160 regular parties as well as 36 independents and 10 minority parties and candidates took part in the election, see here for a full list of the participants.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, National Iraqi Alliance (NIA) – List 316
The National Iraqi Alliance (NIA or INA) is a coalition of mainly Shi'a parties. It was first mooted in August 2009 and is made up of the principal remaining components of the United Iraqi Alliance: The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) and affiliated Badr Organization, the Sadr Movement, Ex-Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari (who became the group's chairman) and his National Reform Trend (Islah), the Islamic Fadhila Party and an Islamic Dawa Party – Iraq Organisation (Tanzim al-Iraq) breakaway faction: the Islamic Dawa Party – Domestic Faction (Tanzim al-Dakhli) headed by Abdul Karim al-Anizi.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, National Iraqi Alliance (NIA) – List 316
ISCI was reported to have offered to split the coalition's seats four ways: 25% to ISCI and Badr, 25% to the Sadrists, 25% to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party and 25% to minor parties and independents. However, Maliki demanded half the seats – reflecting the results of the Iraqi governorate elections of 2009, which were won by Maliki's State of Law Coalition – and a guarantee of another term as Prime Minister.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, National Iraqi Alliance (NIA) – List 316
He also wanted Sunni Arab parties like the Awakening movements to be included as primary members of the coalition to form what his spokesman termed "a truly national alliance". In September, the coalition was formally announced without the Islamic Dawa Party. Despite its religious Shi'a character, the alliance claims to represent all of Iraq and it also includes some secular parties such as former Oil Minister Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress and Sunni parties such as Hamid Hayes' Tribes of Iraq Coalition, an al-Anbar Awakening Council splinter group.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, State of Law Coalition (SLC) – List 337
After negotiations between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Ammar al-Hakim's Islamic Supreme Council for the National Iraqi Alliance broke down, al-Maliki decided to run with the State of Law Coalition (SLC or SLA) which was built around his Islamic Dawa Party for the 2009 local elections. The State of Law Coalition's largest component are members of al-Maliki's Dawa party and members of the incumbent al-Maliki led government. Other major notable components are the Islamic Dawa Party – Tanzim al-Iraq and Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani's "Independent Bloc".


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, State of Law Coalition (SLC) – List 337
While it is a mainly Shi'a alliance, State of Law is officially a national, non-sectarian, multi-ethnic coalition. It includes several minor Sunni, Christian, Kurdish and Turkmen parties and independent candidates such as Abbas al-Bayati's Islamic Union of Iraqi Turkoman and Sheikh Ali Hatem al-Suleiman's Anbar Salvation National Front, an Anbar Awakening Council splinter group. The State of Law Coalition was the winner of the 2009 Iraqi governorate elections, where they became the largest list, winning 126 out of 440 local seats and becoming the largest list in 8 of the 9 Shi'a provinces and Baghdad.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, al-Iraqiyya (INM) – List 333
The Iraqi National Movement (INM), more commonly known as al-Iraqiyya, is the main secular, non-sectarian and Nationalist list, it is headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. In the 2005 election Allawi's Iraqi National List won 8% of the vote, winning votes among secular Shi'a and Sunnis. In 2009 Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi left the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party (which was at the time, Iraq's main Sunni party), and launched a new party called the Renewal List. Hashimi's party joined the al-Iraqiyya. Also joining was the Iraqi National Dialogue Front (Hiwar) led by former Ba'ath Party member Saleh al-Mutlak. The list includes most of the country's main Sunni-based, Nationalist parties: al-Hadba, al-Hal, ex-President Ghazi al-Yawer's The Iraqis, Adnan Pachachi's Assembly of Independent Democrats and Deputy Prime Minister Rafi al-Issawi's party, as well as the country's largest Turkmen party, the Iraqi Turkmen Front.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, al-Iraqiyya (INM) – List 333
In January 2010 the De-Baathification Commission barred al-Mutlak from the election due to his previous membership of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. The al-Iraqiyya List threatened to boycott the election unless the decision was reversed.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, al-Tawafuq – List 338
The Iraqi Accord Front, more commonly known as al-Tawafuq is a Sunni Islamist list which was the main Sunni coalition in 2005, winning 15% and 44 seats as an alliance between the Iraqi Islamic Party, the General Council for the People of Iraq (Iraqi People's Gathering) and the Iraqi National Dialogue Council. Since then the Iraqi National Dialogue Council left the alliance and after disappointing results in 2009, the Iraqi Islamic Party's leader Tariq al-Hashemi resigned from his position and left the party to create his own party and join al-Iraqiyya.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, al-Tawafuq – List 338
The alliance still includes several independent candidates and the Sunni Islamist, Turkmen Justice Party. In 2009 Tawafuq was still the largest Sunni list with 32 seats however they received less than 25% of the votes they received in 2005 and lost in their main stronghold, the al-Anbar governorate. Meanwhile, the parties which would later form al-Iraqiyya won over 70 seats.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, Iraq's Unity – List 348
Ahmed Abu Risha, the head of the Awakening movement party that won the most seats in the 2009 Al Anbar governorate election, formed a coalition with Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani's Iraqi Constitutional Party and Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samarrai, chief of Sunni Endowment Office, called the Unity Alliance of Iraq, also known as Iraq's Unity or Iraqi Unity. Abu Risha had previously held talks with Maliki on joining the State of Law Coalition.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, Kurdistani List – List 372 and other Kurdish Lists
The Kurdistan Alliance called for a single pan-Kurdish list, including the Islamist parties and the opposition Gorran Movement, which had gained a quarter of the seats in the Iraqi Kurdistan legislative election of 2009. However, the Gorran Movement said the two main Kurdistani Alliance parties – the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdish President Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq (KDP) – tended to "monopolize" power, and competing separately would "secure their own powers" in Baghdad.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, Kurdistani List – List 372 and other Kurdish Lists
The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) also said it would compete separately, as it had in December 2005, and rejected a pan-Islamist coalition with the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK) and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (IGK). Therefore, Gorran, the KIU and the IGK all three ran in separate lists, while the PUK and KDP ran in a joint "Kurdistani List" together with several minor parties including the Kurdistan Communist Party, Qadir Aziz's Kurdistan Toilers' Party and the IMK.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Coalitions, Kurdistani List – List 372 and other Kurdish Lists
Though a mainly Kurdish List, the Kurdistan List also includes the Turkmen Brotherhood In 2005 the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan had won 21.7% of the votes and 53 out of 275 seats with the Kurdistan Islamic Union winning 1.3% of the votes and 5 seats. In the 2009 Kurdistan general elections the Kurdistani List had won 59 out of 100 Kurdish seats, Gorran winning 25 and the Islamist list of the KIU and IGK winning 13 seats.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Opinion polls
In February 2010 the National Media Center, a government agency conducted a survey among 5,000 Iraqis from 18 different provinces. When people were asked who they would vote for the poll gave the following results:


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Opinion polls
When asking if people would vote or not two-thirds said they would vote. Among Shi'a Muslims 63% said they would vote, among Sunni Muslims this was 58%. 57% of the Arabs said they would vote while 67% of the Kurds said they would vote. Of those asked 47% supported the candidate ban, 38% opposed it and 15% had no opinion.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Opinion polls
According to the Sadrists, they expected the National Iraqi Alliance to be the largest Shi'a List, winning 70 to 80 seats in the government, where from the Sadr Movement would win at least 35. Spokesmen from Da'awa were skeptical about these claims.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Candidate ban
On 15 January 2010 Iraq's electoral commission banned 499 candidates, mostly Sunni Muslims, from the election due to alleged links with the Ba'ath Party. Several prominent Sunni politicians were among the banned, including Iraqi Front for National Dialogue leader Saleh al-Mutlaq, Iraqi Defence Minister Qadir Obeidi and Iraqi Accordance Front chairman Dhafer al-Ani. Among the banned candidates 216 were former members of the Ba'ath Party (including 13 mid-ranking members), 182 were members of the paramilitary Fedayeen Saddam and the Mukhabarat (Saddam's intelligence service), a further 105 of them were officers from the Old Iraqi army, including several ex-generals.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Candidate ban
Among the banned candidates 60% were Sunni Muslims and 40% were Shi'a however all of the banned candidates are members of secular and liberal parties and not a single member of a Sunni or Shi'a religious party was banned. According to Sheikh Abu Risha 7 of the banned candidates were members of his Anbar Salvation Council and 70 were members of the Iraq Unity list, a major Sunni list led by Abu Risha and Jawad al-Bolani.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Candidate ban
The electoral commission was criticized for alleged partiality and ties to Shi'a religious parties and some feared this decision will lead to sectarian tensions. Sunni Muslims largely boycotted the January 2005 elections and it was feared they would boycott this election as well, since the dominant Sunni list-the Iraqi National Movement-threatened to boycott the elections if the decision was not reversed. Al-Mutlaq himself said he would resort to the United Nations and the international community if he is banned from the next election calling the decision a political decision "linked to foreign desire".


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Candidate ban
Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha, head of the Awakening councils threatened he might boycott the 2010 elections as well if the 70 banned candidates of his list were not unbanned. Earlier, Massoud Barzani had threatened Kurds might boycott the elections over the seat allocations. Kurds however decided not to boycott after more seats were allocated to them.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Candidate ban
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani called on the Supreme Court to settle the dispute over the banned candidates saying: "We should not be unjust with them." American Vice President Joe Biden travelled to Iraq on 23 January to try resolve the matters of the election ban. In response on 25 January, Iraq dropped the ban on 59 out of 150 candidates who had appealed their ban. A total of 458 however remained banned from the elections.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Candidate ban
On 3 February the appeals court has temporarily lifted the ban on the candidates allowing them to run, which the Iraqi government condemned the decision by the court calling it "illegal and unconstitutional". The suspending of the ban is meant to allow the candidates to run, the Supreme Court said they will then review the candidates after the election. The government however ordered the Supreme Court to make their final ruling on the candidates before the election. However out of 511 candidates most had been replaced by their parties (and 59 had been unbanned), only 177 candidates appealed their ban. According to IHEC spokesman Khalid al-Shami only 37 of those appealed their ban correctly, the other 140 remain banned.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Candidate ban
US Ambassador Christopher Hill said that by lifting the ban the elections would become credible. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki however said they would not allow Hill to go beyond his diplomatic mission and that Iraq would not bow to any US-pressure. He also insisted that the ban on the alleged Ba'athist candidates must be implemented. Maliki called on the countries high court for a final decision and also called for a parliamentary meeting to discuss the issue.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Candidate ban
Before the start of the campaign on 12 February 2010, the IHEC confirmed that the appeals by banned candidates had been rejected and thus all 456 banned candidates would not be allowed to run for the election. The Iraqi National Movement (al-Iraqiyya list) suspended their election campaign in response.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Boycott
Worker-communist Party of Kurdistan and Worker-communist Party of Iraq boycotted the elections, as in their view, conditions and principles for a fair election were not met.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Election violence
On 13 February, the day the election campaign started, there were several bombings. The first bomb struck a political office of Saleh al-Mutlaq, a second bomb was thrown into a building in West-Baghdad used by Sunni scholars and election candidates, while a third bomb damaged the National Iraqi Alliance's headquarters in Eastern Baghdad, a fourth blast struck the headquarters of the Moderate Movement list, injuring two people, a fifth blast struck a building used by Nehru Mohammed Abdul Karim al-Kasanzani's list, injuring one person.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Election violence
On 15 February, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella organisation which includes al-Qaeda in Iraq released an internet message calling for a Sunni boycott against the election. He was quoted as saying: "Sunni participation in this election will certainly lead to the establishment of the principle that Sunnis in Iraq are a minority who have to be ruled by the rejectionists" (a term used by radical Sunnis to describe Shi'a Muslims), he also said that his group would use "primarily military means to prevent these elections".


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Election violence
On 16 and 17 February campaign workers for the secular Ahrar party were attacked in Baghdad and Maysan governorates when trying to hang up posters. Also between 14 and 17 February at least four Christians were killed by Sunni insurgents. While on 18 February an al-Qaeda suicide bomber struck a government headquarters in Ramadi, al-Anbar, as part of their campaign to paralyze the elections. 26 February four civilians were injured as a massive blast struck Iraq's finance ministry. A car bomb targeted an election convoy for Sunni candidate Ashur Hamid al-Karboul, in Khaldiyah in al-Anbar. A campaign worker and a bystander were killed.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Election violence
On 3 March, two car bombs exploded in the city of Baquba, Diyala, killing 33 people and injuring 55. This was one of the deadliest bombings of the year.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Election violence
One of the hardest hit communities during the election period is the Assyrian community. Attacks against the Assyrians began in December in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. It led to the assassination of over 20 Christians and the bombings of different churches in Mosul. The attacks led to 680 Christian families flying Mosul to Nineveh Plains.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Election violence
On election day, Islamist insurgents distributed leaflets in Sunni neighbourhoods of Baghdad warning people not to go to the polls, they mostly used rockets, mortars and explosive-filled plastic bottles hidden under trash to target those who did vote, this was due to a vehicle ban the government had enforced to stop car-bombings. Attacks killed 42 people and wounded at least 110. In Baghdad Katyusha rockets killed at least 4 people and wounded 16 in the neighbourhoods of Qreiat and al-Hurriya, while roadside bombs killed 7 people in Baghdad.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Election violence
In Mahmoudiyah, a city near Baghdad, a policemant was killed and 11 people were injured when two mortars struck a polling center. One woman was killed and 36 people were injured during attacks on polling centers in the insurgent stronghold of Mosul. But the largest attack came in Baghdad when a Katyusha rocket hit a flat in Ur neighbourhood, killing 25 people and injuring 20. Non -fatal attacks on election day were reported in Tikrit, Baquba, Samarra and Fallujah.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Pre-election controversies, Election violence
According to the Iraq Body Count, from 12 February (when the campaigning started) until 7 March (election day), at least 228 people were killed. Another 176 people were killed in the period between election day and the release of the final results.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Results, Fraud allegations
Prior to the elections there were already claims that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's list was planning to rig elections. The fact that the government printed 26 million ballots, 35% more than are needed for all eligible voters led to claims by Ayad Allawi and his al-Iraqiiya list that these ballots were going to be used to commit fraud.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Results, Fraud allegations
According to the National Iraqi Alliance al-Maliki was abusing his powers as Prime Minister by distributing government land and plantations freely to tribal leaders to secure their votes, Maliki was also said to be giving expensive guns with gold emblems on them, to visitors. Ibrahim al-Jaafari's Islah party accused the Maliki government of registering 800,000 fabricated names in rural areas and Baghdad so the government could use their names to vote in favour of Maliki while these people do not exist. The Sadr Movement complained that the government was arresting and detaining their supporters in the days prior to the elections to prevent them from voting.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Results, Fraud allegations
Leaders of al-Iraqiyya listed a series of alleged violations by Maliki claiming some of their votes had been removed from boxes and replaced by other ballots. A spokesman from the alliance released this statement: "Insistence in manipulating these elections forces us to question whether the possibility of fraudulent results would make the final results worthless. We will not stand by with our arms crossed," however analysts claimed Allawi might have listed these complaints for tactical reasons. Iraqiyya candidate Inistar Allawi also accused the Kurdistan Alliance of fraud in Kirkuk. On the other hand, the Kurdish Gorran List alleged that Allawi's al-Iraqiya list had committed fraud in the city of Mosul. Ali al-Adeeb, a candidate for Maliki's State of Law Coalition alleged an election official has manipulated election results in favour of a rival candidate.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Results, Fraud allegations
Iraqi Kurdish politician Khalid Shenawi, accused election workers in Arab areas in the city of Kirkuk of manipulating the results in Allawi's favour. Meanwhile, Arab and Turkmen politicians accused the Kurds of stacking voter rolls in their favour. Shenawi said that loudspeakers of mosques were used to encourage people to vote and expressed doubt over the 93% turnout in Kirkuk's Arab districts al-Zab, al-Abbasi, al-Riad. In the Arabic neighbourhood of al-Houija there was even a turnout of 130%. Ala Talabani said the Kurdistani List had submitted 40 notices of appeal against fraud by al-Iraqiya.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Results, Fraud allegations
Turkmen nationalist politician Arshid Al-Salihi, who stood as part of the al-Iraqiya list however claimed they had proof of al-Iraqiyya votes being thrown in the garbage, alleging fraud by the Kurdistan List. However, contradictingly he also claimed that "Everyone who loses in elections accuses their rivals of fraud" in reference to claims by the Kurdistan Alliance.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Results, Fraud allegations
Pro -Western candidate Mithal al-Alusi, who's Mithal al-Alusi List won one seat during last elections for Mithal al-Alusi himself, claimed the elections were rigged against liberals like himself, by Iran and Saudi Arabia as he lost his seat in parliament. Alusi claimed there were major discrepancies between the vote count according to IHEC and his own monitors. He also claimed village directors prevented women from voting in rural areas. He called on the United States to launch an investigation to the allegedly fixed election results.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Results, Fraud allegations
After an appeal by incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a recount of the votes in Baghdad was ordered on 19 April 2010. The recount began on 3 May 2010. On 14 May IHEC announced that after 11,298 ballot boxes had been recounted, there was no sign of fraud or violations.


2010 Iraqi parliamentary election, Analysis
Some analysts argued that a new government would need to have at least a component that represents minority ethnicities in order to try and "heal old sectarian wounds." This would mean excluding Iraqiya could anger its Sunni vote-base and "reinvigorate a Sunni backlash."


2010 Ireland rugby union tour of New Zealand and Australia
Ireland toured New Zealand and Australia in June 2010, playing a Test match against the All Blacks and the Wallabies. They also played the New Zealand Māori in Rotorua.


2010 Ireland rugby union tour of New Zealand and Australia, Touring squad
Ireland named a 34-man squad for their tour to New Zealand and Australia in June 2010. Rory Best and Paul O'Connell were both ruled out due to injury and replaced by John Fogarty and Ed O'Donoghue. Kevin McLaughlin was also ruled out and was replaced by Niall Ronan. Keith Earls had to pull out of the squad and was replaced by Gavin Duffy. Fergus McFadden was ruled out of the tour and was replaced by Johne Murphy. Damien Varley was called up to the squad as cover for Jerry Flannery.


2010 Ireland rugby union tour of New Zealand and Australia, Touring squad
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2010 Irish Classic
The 2010 Irish Classic (often known as the 2010 Lucan Racing Irish Classic for sponsorship and promotion purposes) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 24 and 25 July 2010 at the Celbridge Snooker Club in Kildare, Republic of Ireland.


2010 Irish Classic
Fergal O'Brien won in the final 5–1 against Michael Judge.


2010 Irish Greyhound Derby
The 2010 Irish Greyhound Derby took place during August and September with the final being held at Shelbourne Park in Dublin on 11 September 2010.


2010 Irish Greyhound Derby
The winner Tyrur McGuigan won €120,000 and was trained by Conor Fahy, owned and bred by P.J. Fahy. The race was sponsored by the Ladbrokes for the first time.


2010 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
The 2009 Irish Greyhound Derby champion College Causeway missed the competition after his owner decided to keep him at stud. The 2010 Derby started with four leading contenders being eliminated in the first round. They included three 2009 finalists Faypoint Man, Shaneboy Lee and Belvedere Champ in addition to plus English Oaks winner Shaws Dilemma.


2010 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
Kinda Ready (the 2009 English Greyhound Derby champion) won for the second time in the competition during round three but the star of the round was Tyrur Big Mike setting a time of 29.42. Barefoot Bullet was successful in 29.68 but there was a shock as Champion Stakes winner Makeshift failed to make the quarter-finals.


2010 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
Tyrur Big Mike won again in the quarter-finals, recording 29.54, and litter brother Tyrur McGuigan continued to improve when winning again. The other heat winners were Ballymac Under and Tullymurry Act, but Kinda Ready was knocked out.


2010 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
The PJ Fahy-owned pair starred in the semifinals, with Tyrur Big Mike winning in a very fast 29.28 victory from Tullymurry Act and Easter Cup champion Thurlesbeg Joker, Mesedo Blue went out. The remaining semi went to Tyrur McGuigan in 29.63 from Barefoot Bullet and Krug Ninety Five with former Juvenile winner Ballymac Under failing to make the final.


2010 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
Tyrur Big Mike was a very short even-money favourite for the final and had only suffered one defeat so far, likewise his brother Tyrur McGuigan had only one loss. Tyrur McGuigan broke well out of the traps followed by his brother. Tyrur McGuigan continued to hold off Tyrur Big Mike and lost a couple of lengths attempting to pass. Tyrur McGuigan went on to win the race that the pair had dominated from start to finish although Krug Ninety Five ran on well. Tullymurry Act, who finished last, returned a positive drugs sample and forfeited any prize money.


2010 Irish budget
The 2010 Irish Budget refers to the delivery of a government budget by the Government of Ireland on 9 December 2009, its third in fourteen months. It was also the third overall budget to be delivered by Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan as Minister for Finance.


2010 Irish budget
The 2010 Budget was described by commentators in Ireland and around the world in unusually harsh terms as €4 billion was removed from the country's national deficit. It was characterised by pay cuts for public sector workers and cuts in social welfare. According to the BBC, social welfare cuts had not been implemented by the country since 1924. The cuts prompted at least one angry outburst in Dáil Éireann, the principal chamber of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament). Among the other initiatives unveiled in this Budget was a car scrappage scheme as well as a new carbon tax.


2010 Irish budget
The post-budget debate was interrupted by a famous use of unparliamentary language by Green Party TD Paul Gogarty, an example which attracted international attention.


2010 Irish budget, Background
The budget for 2010 occurred in the context of a major recession, which followed the Irish financial crisis. It also followed the difficult 2009 budget, which led to widespread protests, as well as a supplementary emergency budget in April 2009. This meant that the 2010 budget was the third to be delivered by the Finance Minister in only fourteen months.


2010 Irish budget, Budget summary
Excise duties on beer and cider were decreased by 12 cent, excise duties on a half-glass of spirits were decreased by 14 cent  and a bottle of wine was decreased by 60 cent, with a warning from the Finance Minister that these reductions were open to being recalled if consumers did not benefit. Due to an increase in the smuggling of tobacco into Ireland, prices of tobacco remained unaltered.


2010 Irish budget, Budget summary
A year-long car scrappage scheme was unveiled targeting vehicles which had been in use for more than a decade, with a €1,500 reduction in vehicle registration tax relief available for those who availed of this scheme (but only "under certain conditions").


2010 Irish budget, Budget summary
The salary of the Taoiseach was decreased by 20 per cent on a permanent basis.


2010 Irish budget, Budget summary, Arts
The arts budget decreased by 6 per cent to €166 million from the previous year's €178 million.


2010 Irish budget, Budget summary, Arts
Culture Ireland received €4.083 million and the Irish Film Board received €19.31 million, both the same as figures from 2007. The Arts Council received €69.15 million, a decrease of 6 per cent. Section 481's tax relief for film and television production was not affected. The Zoological Society of Ireland's grant of €3 million for funding Dublin Zoo remained the same. However, the National Gallery of Ireland's grant was decreased by 7 per cent leaving it with an annual total of €10.17 million.


2010 Irish budget, Budget summary, Sport
The Government allocated €115 million for sport, a decrease from the previous year's €127 million.


2010 Irish budget, Budget summary, Sport
The Irish Sports Council received funding of €49.7 million, a decrease of 4 per cent. €59.2 million was allocated to horse and greyhound racing, a decrease of 13 per cent. The Sports Capital Programme received €48 million, down from €56 million the previous year. Aviva Stadium development funding will increase from €1.5 million to €4.5 million. Funding for Abbotstown's National Sports Campus increased by 20 per cent. The National Aquatic Centre received the rest.


2010 Irish budget, Budget summary, Tourism
The Government allocated more than €155 million for tourism, an increase of 2 per cent from the previous year's Budget. €22 million of this was dedicated to tourist attractions. "Imaginative initiatives", including rail discounts for senior visiting citizens, were announced.


2010 Irish budget, Reaction
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said the Government would "do whatever was necessary to stabilise the deficit" and that "a job needed to be done", whilst maintaining that the Budget was "well received". Fine Gael's Richard Bruton responded to Brian Lenihan's claim that "the worst is over" by comparing the statement to former U.S. President George W. Bush declaring "mission accomplished" on the Iraq War in 2003.


2010 Irish budget, Reaction
His colleague Alan Shatter accused the Government of buying off children with alcohol: "Forget the food and milk — let them drink beer", describing it as being from "the Marie Antoinette school of politics" and asking "which comedian was employed to author this bizarre document". The Labour Party's Joan Burton described it as "a sort of Top Gear lads Budget" with cheaper alcohol and cars being made available. Sinn Féin's leader in the Dáil Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin described anyone who had constructed Budget 2010 as "economically illiterate". His colleague Arthur Morgan bemoaned how the Budget benefited "the corrupt banker".


2010 Irish budget, Reaction
ICTU General Secretary David Begg was "shocked", claiming the Budget would cause Ireland's economy to fall further into recession. IBEC Director General Danny McCoy described the Budget as "a turning point" and one which would place Ireland "on a sustainable path".


2010 Irish budget, Reaction
The Irish Nurses Organisation described the public servant pay decrease as "grossly unfair, short-sighted, damaging and provocative" and would lead to "grave hardship". The Irish National Teachers' Organisation said those involved in the public sector would "pay for Government's disastrous handling of the economy" and that "hardworking public servants and their families had been squeezed yet again to pay the price of the economic crisis". IMPACT said the Budget was the same as "sacrificing long-term public service reform for short-term political expediency". The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors said the Budget was an "attack on its members".


2010 Irish budget, Reaction
The Construction Industry Federation said the loss of almost €1 billion was "a blow to jobs in its sector". The Irish Hotels Federation was grateful for the Government's "strong and decisive action". The Irish Hospital Consultants Association later revealed its willingness to agree 15% pay cut announced by the Finance Minister for its members in his Budget 2010.


2010 Irish budget, Reaction
The National Campaign for the Arts expressed relief and pleasure that it had not been affected very much by the Budget. Youth Work Ireland described the targeting of young people as "pure cynicism [...] a cynical move when contrasted with the 30,000 young people turned away from education courses last October". Drinks Industry Group of Ireland Chairman Kieran Tobin said reductions on the cost of alcohol would be "a great relief" and would "repatriate some of the revenue currently being lost to cross-border trade". Anti -smoking lobbyists ASH Ireland criticised the lack of increase in the price of tobacco.


2010 Irish budget, Reaction
Friends of the Earth described the carbon tax being implemented as "an important piece of the jigsaw in tackling climate change". Oxfam Ireland CEO Jim Clarken spoke of being "extremely disappointed that the Government have piled further cuts on the massive 24% cut applied earlier this year" and accused the Irish government having "yet again, broken a promise to the world's poor".


2010 Irish budget, Reaction
Political Correspondent for The Irish Times Harry McGee dubbed it "the most austere Budget in the history of the State". The Irish Examiner said it "can only be described as one of the toughest Budgets in the history of the State". The BBC called it "one of the most severe budgets in the Republic's history". The New York Times referred to it as the "harshest budget in generations".


2010 Irish budget, Reaction
Global investors approved the measures introduced by Brian Lenihan, with Irish government bonds receiving a boost following the Budget. Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson announced two days after the delivery of Budget 2010 that she would be happy to take a 10 per cent reduction in her pension, a further 10 per cent added to what she had previously offered earlier that year.


2010 Irish budget, Reaction
Former RTÉ Economics Correspondent turned Fine Gael TD George Lee gave his view in the Galway Independent the following week under the headline: "not fair, not clever and not going to fix economy". Lee was critical of the proposed car scrappage scheme, saying it would benefit only the likes of France, Germany and Japan where the new cars would be imported from.


2010 Irish budget, Reaction
He also condemned what he called "the crazy result of this decision [to cut] is that an office cleaner in the Department of Finance will take a greater proportionate pay cut after tax than Minister Lenihan" and that the pay cut for Ministers announced in this Budget included the cut they had given themselves in the previous Budget in April 2009.


2010 Irish budget, Social Welfare Bill and "unparliamentary language" controversy
Attempts by the government to quickly legalise the Social Welfare Bill proposed in the Budget before the weekend were met with disapproval from the Opposition.


2010 Irish budget, Social Welfare Bill and "unparliamentary language" controversy
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny criticised the Government for "acting in a disgraceful manner" and challenged them, "If you think you can come in here and do whatever you want you have another thing coming". Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore suggested the Government would "round up its six strays and get here this evening to vote on the measure", in a thinly veiled reference to supporting Independents as well as those within Fianna Fáil who had lost the whip. Jimmy Devins and Eamon Scanlon were specifically referred to by Gilmore as "the two strays from Sligo". Independent Jackie Healy-Rae replied to critics of his and his fellow Independents stance in supporting the Budget that they would be "glad to have us" on their side too if required to pass a vote.


2010 Irish budget, Social Welfare Bill and "unparliamentary language" controversy
Labour Party deputy Róisín Shortall suggested that "there is no obligation on them [backbenchers and Independents] to support this. They are not under a whip. It's their choice. If they vote for these (measures), well then they have to face the consequences in their constituency". Green Party deputy Paul Gogarty said, "It's regrettable but necessargy [ sic]. And everyone on this side of the house is going to stand by it, because it has to be done".


2010 Irish budget, Social Welfare Bill and "unparliamentary language" controversy
Paul Gogarty tries to explain the reasons behind his use of expletives in the Dáil Chamber.


2010 Irish budget, Social Welfare Bill and "unparliamentary language" controversy
Gogarty was later condemned and forced to apologise for his use of "unparliamentary language" after he yelled "Fuck you, Deputy Stagg, fuck you" at veteran Labour Party TD Emmet Stagg during the debate on the Social Welfare Bill on 11 December 2009. Fine Gael Senator Frances Fitzgerald remarked, "If only Paul Gogarty got as upset about carers, blind pensioners and dole recipients as he does about perceived slights to his ego." Fine Gael deputy Lucinda Creighton called for the expulsion of Gogarty from the House.


2010 Irish budget, Social Welfare Bill and "unparliamentary language" controversy
Ceann Comhairle Séamus Kirk, requesting the need for "decent standards", sent the expletives to the Dáil Committee on Procedure and Privileges. It was discovered that "fuck" was not actually contained alongside such terms as "brat"; "buffoon"; "communist"; "coward"; "fascist"; "guttersnipe"; "hypocrite"; "rat"; "scumbag"; "scurrilous" and "yahoo" in Salient Rulings of the Chair, an 83-page document governing parliamentary language.


2010 Irish budget, Social Welfare Bill and "unparliamentary language" controversy
Green Party deputies were described as "less than pleased" at Gogarty's conduct. Green Party leader John Gormley later commented on the incident: "It was unacceptable language. He should not have said it. He has apologised and withdrawn the remarks. I have not had an opportunity to speak to him as yet. It is over. He has apologised now." Stagg was not bothered, citing "a thick skin" and the "development of a hide". Gogarty received a positive response from his constituents and went on to feature on Operation Transformation the following month.


2010 Irish budget, Social Welfare Bill and "unparliamentary language" controversy
The Social Welfare Bill passed by 81 to 75 votes on the evening of 11 December. Government deputies who missed the vote included former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, former Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue and Donegal North-East deputies Jim McDaid and Niall Blaney.


2010 Irish budget, Estimated total receipts, Estimated tax receipts
Estimated of tax receipts for fiscal year 2010 are €31.930 billion (−1.9%).


2010 Irish budget, Estimated total receipts, Non-tax revenue
Estimated of non-tax revenue for fiscal year 2010 are €2.355 billion (+182.4%).


2010 Ironman 70.3 World Championship
The 2010 Ironman 70.3 World Championship was a triathlon competition held in Clearwater, Florida on November 13, 2010. It was sponsored by Foster Grant and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. The championship race was the culmination of the Ironman 70.3 series of events that occurred from October 2009 to September 2010. Athletes, both professional and amateur, earned a spot in the championship race by qualifying in races throughout the 70.3 series. The 2010 Championship was won by Michael Raelert of Germany and Jodie Swallow of Great Britain.


2010 Ironman 70.3 World Championship
This year marked the end of the Championship race being in Clearwater, Florida; which the city has hosted for five years. The Championship race moves to Henderson, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas, Nevada in 2011.


2010 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Qualification
The 2010 Ironman 70.3 Series featured 39 events that enabled qualification to the 2010 World Championship event. Some 70.3 events also served as qualifiers for the full Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. The 70.3 Series expanded the number of qualifying races from 34 in 2009 to 39 events in 2010. Those events added included races at Galveston Island (Texas), New Foundland Lake (Mooseman), Racine, Boulder, Japan, Branson, and Syracuse. The 5-year old Monaco Ironman 70.3 is no longer part of the series, which was re-labeled the TriStar111 Monaco. Early in 2010, the Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya race was tentatively scheduled for July 2010, but was removed from the series pending a reformat of the race.


2010 Ironman World Championship
The 2010 Ford Ironman World Championship was held on October 9, 2010 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. It was the 34th  such Ironman Triathlon World Championships, which has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978. The 2010 Championship was won by Chris McCormack and Mirinda Carfrae. The championship is organised by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC).


2010 Ironman World Championship, Qualification
To enter for the 2010 World Championship race, athletes are required to qualify through performance at an Ironman or selected Ironman 70.3 race, through Hawaii residency, through a random allocation lottery, or by invitation from the WTC.


2010 Ironman World Championship, Qualification
The Ironman 2010 Series consists of 24 Ironman qualifying races plus the Ironman World Championship 2009 which was itself a qualifier for the 2010 Ironman World Championship. The series started with Ironman Wisconsin 2009 held on September 13, 2009.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race
The 2010 Irwin Tools Night Race was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on August 21, 2010 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. Contested over 500 laps, it was the twenty-fourth race of the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season. Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing won the race, while David Reutimann finished second, and Jamie McMurray clinched third.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race
Pole position driver Jimmie Johnson maintained his lead on the first lap to begin the race, as Carl Edwards, who started in the second position on the grid, remained behind him. Afterward, Kyle Busch became the leader, and would eventually lead to the race high of 282 laps. On lap 163, early race leader Johnson had collided with Juan Pablo Montoya; when he returned to the track he was seventy-seven laps behind the leader. David Reutimann led after the final pit stops, ahead of Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray. With seventy-one laps remaining, Kyle Busch passed Reutimann, holding the lead through to the race win.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race
There were seven cautions and seventeen lead changes among nine different drivers throughout the course of the race. It was Kyle Busch's third win of the season and the nineteenth of his career. The result moved him up five spots to third in the Drivers' Championship, 351 points behind of leader Kevin Harvick and fifty-seven ahead of Carl Edwards. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, twenty-seven ahead of Toyota, sixty-three ahead of Ford and seventy-four ahead of Dodge with twelve races remaining in the season. A total of 155,000 people attended the race, while 5.842 million watched it on television.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race
With the win, Kyle Busch completed a historic Triple Threat sweep, winning in all three of the top NASCAR national series on the same weekend, winning the O'Reilly Auto Parts 200 in the Camping World Truck Series, the Food City 250 in the Nationwide Series and finishing with this win in the Sprint Cup Series.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Background
Bristol Motor Speedway is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Dover International Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway, Richmond International Raceway, and Martinsville Speedway. The standard track at Bristol Motor Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is 0.533 miles (0.858 km) long. The track's turns are banked from twenty-four to thirty degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked from six to ten degrees. The back stretch also has banking from six to ten degrees.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Background
Before the race, Kevin Harvick led the Drivers' Championship with 3,400 points, and Jeff Gordon stood in second with 3,107 points. Denny Hamlin was third in the Drivers' Championship with 3,047 points; Tony Stewart was fourth with 3,020 while Jimmie Johnson was in fifth with 3,014. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 167 points, thirty points ahead of their rival Toyota. Ford, with 106 points, was ten points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions was held before the Saturday race—both on Friday. The first session lasted 120 minutes, while the second session lasted 45 minutes. During the first practice session, David Gilliland was fastest, ahead of Robby Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in second and third respectively. Jeff Gordon was scored fourth, while A. J. Allmendinger was placed fifth, even though the latter had spun sideways twice in the session. In the second and final practice session, Ryan Newman was scored quickest, as Carl Edwards and Gilliland followed in the second and third positions. Jimmie Johnson was scored in the fourth position, while his teammate Jeff Gordon followed in fifth.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Practice and qualifying
50 cars were entered for qualifying, due NASCAR's qualifying procedure, only 43 could race. Johnson clinched his twenty-fourth career pole position, with a time of 15.540 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Edwards. Joey Logano qualified third, Tony Stewart took fourth, and David Reutimann started fifth. Six drivers did not qualify because one team, the second car for Tommy Baldwin Racing, withdrew from qualifying. They were Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek, Kevin Lepage, J. J. Yeley, Brian Keselowski, and Mike Bliss. Also during qualifying, Jeff Gordon spun sideways and flattened his tires, but after changing tires, he qualified twenty-sixth.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Race summary
The race, the twenty-fourth out of a total of thirty-six in the season, began at 7:30 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on ABC. The race was preempted in Southeast Michigan due to that year's Woodward Dream Cruise, broadcast on Scripps-owned WXYZ-TV in Southfield, Michigan. Before the race. conditions were with light rain showers and temperature of 75 °F (24 °C). Ruth Graham daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, began pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation. Next, children of the drivers and pit crews from Motor Racing Outreach performed the national anthem, and Irwin Tools Ultimate Tradesman Challenge winner Delwyn Thorton gave the command for drivers to start their engines.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Race summary
Jimmie Johnson held the lead going through the first corner with Carl Edwards behind him. After starting fourth, Tony Stewart passed Edwards for the second position. David Reutimann's fourth position was filled by Ryan Newman on lap 4. By lap seventeen, Johnson and Stewart were ahead of Edwards by 1.8 seconds. On lap 22, Paul Menard moved into the tenth position, after passing Matt Kenseth. Juan Pablo Montoya moved into the sixth position by lap 27. After twenty-nine laps, Robby Gordon and Michael McDowell had driven to the garage as start-and-parks. Two laps later, Menard had moved into the ninth position. On lap 38, Montoya moved into the fifth position, after passing Reutimann.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Race summary
After starting twentieth, Kurt Busch had moved up to the twelfth position by lap 51. Seven laps later, the first caution came out because David Gilliland collided with the wall. After the drivers had finished their pit stops, Johnson led to the green flag. Stewart moved into the first position one lap later, but he could not maintain it for the second consecutive lap. On lap 65, Kasey Kahne received a drive-through penalty after driving too fast on pit lane. Nine laps later, Kyle Busch moved into the eighth position, as his brother Kurt followed. Afterward, Montoya moved into the sixth position. By lap 81, Johnson had a 0.60 second lead over Stewart. Two laps later, Jamie McMurray passed Kenseth for the tenth position.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Race summary
On lap 96, Kyle Busch passed Montoya for sixth, as Stewart was gaining ground on Johnson. Two laps later, Edwards caught Stewart for the second position. After 107 laps, Johnson had a 0.65 second lead over Stewart. On lap 127, David Ragan had spun sideways, which prompted the second caution to come out. During the accident, Tony Raines collided in the back of Stewart's race car. Following the caution, Johnson led to the green flag on lap 130. One lap later, the third caution was given because Regan Smith collided with the wall.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Race summary
On lap 140, Johnson led the drivers to the green flag. After starting twenty-first, Greg Biffle had moved into the eleventh position by lap 142. On lap 153, Kevin Harvick said, "We don't know what we're doing. Leave the air alone. ", after being frustrated that his crew could not fix the car handling.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Race summary
On lap 161, there were twenty-eight cars on the lead lap (not a lap down). Eleven laps later, Kyle Busch emerged in the first position, after passing Johnson. By lap 187, Kyle Busch had a 0.96 second lead over Johnson. On lap 192, one of Scott Speed's tires deflated, prompting the fourth caution. Johnson became the leader after pit stops, and led the drivers back to the green flag. On lap 202, Busch reclaimed the lead, as Reutimann passed Johnson for second. Eleven laps later, Stewart collided with the wall, but was able to continue racing. On lap 215, Johnson reclaimed second, after passing Reutimann. Twenty-one laps later, Clint Bowyer passed Kurt Busch for the ninth position. By lap 239, Kyle Busch had a 2.5 second lead over Johnson.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Race summary
On lap 253, the fifth caution came out because Bobby Labonte collided with the wall. On lap 161, Kyle Busch led the drivers to the green flag. One lap later, Johnson spun sideways and collided with the wall, after making contact with Montoya. Johnson and Denny Hamlin drove to garage during the caution, both with repairs. Kyle Busch, once again, led the drivers to the restart on lap 267. By lap 279, Kyle Busch had a 1.48 second lead over Reutimann.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Race summary
Ten laps later, Hamlin returned to the track, as Kyle Busch had a 1.75 second lead over the second position. On lap 302, Gordon passed A. J. Allmendinger for the tenth position. Eight laps later, Matt Kenseth passed Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for the seventh position. On lap 339, McMurray moved into the third position. Four laps later, McMurray passed Reutimann for second. Kyle Busch maintained a 1.57 lead over McMurray, as Kenseth, who was running eighth, drove to pit lane because of tire issues.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Race summary
On lap 350, Kahne moved into the sixth position. Eight laps later, McMurray had closed on Kyle Busch. By lap 380, Kyle Busch had claimed the most laps led. Three laps later, Kahne came to pit lane because of a flat tire. On lap 388, McMurray became the leader, after passing Kyle Busch. On lap 399, green flag pit stops began, as McMurray and Kyle Busch came to pit lane for fuel and tires. Afterwards, Jeff Gordon became the leader, but one lap later he was passed by Mark Martin. On lap 404, Reutimann became the leader, as Joey Logano was given a drive-through penalty for speeding on pit lane. Four laps later, the seventh caution came out because of debris on the track. Reutimann led on the restart during lap 414.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Race summary
Four laps later, Kahne reclaimed the sixth position, as Kyle Busch caught Reutimann. On lap 429, Kyle Busch became the leader, after bumping Reutimann. Kahne moved into the fourth position, after passing Bowyer two laps later. By lap 434, Kyle Busch had a 1.5 second lead over Reutimann. Fifteen laps later, Kurt Busch passed Jeff Gordon for the tenth position. After 467 laps, there were only fourteen cars on the same lap as the leader. By lap 490, Kyle Busch had a 2.49 second lead over the rest of the drivers.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Race summary
Kyle Busch crossed the finish line in first to make history by becoming the first to win in all three major NASCAR divisions in the same weekend: the Camping World Truck Series, the Nationwide Series, and the Sprint Cup Series. David Reutimann followed in second, ahead McMurray in third, Bowyer in fourth, and Kahne in fifth. The race had a total of seven cautions and seventeen lead changes among nine different drivers.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Post-race
To sweep a weekend, that's awesome, I don't know what to think. I've been trying to do this since I got to NASCAR. Fortunately tonight, I was able to get it done and be the first one to do it. I'm the first of a lot of things.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Post-race
Busch appeared in victory lane after his victory lap to start celebrating making history, and his third win of the season, in front of a crowd of 155,000 people. Busch also earned $331,731 in race winnings. "It's great. We knew we'd run well here and were really looking forward to capitalizing and getting jumped in front of the bubble spot (for the Chase)," said Busch.


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Post-race
Although Reutimann was leading near the end, Busch passed him with seventy-one laps remaining. McMurray, who finished third, said, The balance was too tight at the end. It was a really good night for us. I know most of these fans don't like Kyle Busch, but it's remarkable what he's been able to do this weekend." In the subsequent press conference, Reutimann stated, "My team did a good job, because I was only in the second half of practice, and they had to work with two different drivers, so the credit all goes to my team."


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Post-race
"At one point, I thought we were going to have the car to beat, but at the end, we just didn't have the speed we needed," McMurray added. Johnson, who was involved in an accident on lap 263, said, "I thought I left [Montoya] enough room on the outside lane there. We're on the straightaway for a little bit, and then all of the sudden, I got hooked with force. It's not like we bumped and banged, and I squeezed him. I thought we were on the straightaway and everything was fine, and then around I went." Following the race, Busch would add,"This [car] was awesome today. What a great race car. It's the second time I've run it this year."


2010 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Post-race
The race result left Harvick leading the Driver's Championship with 3,521 points. Jeff Gordon, who finished eleventh, was second with 3,242 points, which assured him a position in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. He was seventy-two points ahead of race winner Kyle Busch and 129 ahead of Edwards. Hamlin was fifth with 3,108 points. Chevrolet maintained their lead in the Manufacturers' Championship with 173 points. Toyota placed second with 146 points, and Ford followed with 110 points, eleven ahead of Dodge in fourth. 5.842 million people watched the race on television. The race took two hours, forty-one minutes and twenty-four seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was 0.677 seconds.


2010 Islamic Solidarity Games
The 2nd Islamic Solidarity Games were going to be an international sporting event scheduled to be held in Iran on 9–25 April 2010. The Games were cancelled following a dispute between the host country and Saudi Arabia.