SECULARISM WINS IN IRAQ!!!

Iraqi Election Results Announced; Allawi Bloc Wins Most Seats

...only by 2, mind you, and of course Maliki is whining, but still, it's what the people want!!!

"Despite the prime minister's demand for a manual recount, U.N. representative Ad Melkart insisted that all polling stations were subject to repeated recounts and that no systematic fraud was detected:

"All results of almost 50,000 voting stations have been checked at least 8 times," said Ad Melkart. "On the basis of specific complaints submitted by different entities, specific audits have been held in places with indications of irregularities. Ballot boxes that could not stand the test have not been included in the count. We have not found evidence of systematic failure or fraud of widespread nature. The U.N. calls on all candidates and entities to accept the results."

Judge Qassem al Abboudi of the electoral commission told Iraqi politicians that the final results of the March 7 parliamentary election would be published in three newspapers and that candidates would have three days to take complaints to the courts.

Both Shi'ite and Sunni moslem religious leaders urged their followers during Friday prayers in mosques across the country to remain calm and not to respond to any perceived provocations.

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill expressed confidence in the integrity of the vote count and urged all political blocs to "conduct talks on the formation of the new government in a spirit of cooperation..and to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric or action." "

Come on Maliki, be a hero. Not a whiner. The willingness to graciously accept defeat is one of the cornerstones of the electoral process in a modern democracy.

A round up with views, beginning with the always pessimistic depressive New York Times, whose editors are still hoping Iraq will fail to The Wall Street Journal and The London Times which gives Maliki a well deserved spanking, which includes this reference to the old tried and true Middle Eastern dictator's strategy, which it asserts is being used by Maliki:

"Hundreds of people gathered outside the Baghdad government building to call for a recount. Protests were held this week across the heartland of Mr al-Maliki’s support in southern Iraq where State of Law supporters from Basra to Nassariya marched in the streets, holding banners and calling for a recount."

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"Sources in Nassariya and Basra told The Times that protests there were orchestrated by State of Law, which rallied supporters and instructed government employees to attend. Warnings of unrest prompted heightened security across the country, to the concern of ordinary Iraqis and analysts alike."

Other than the bit about instructing employees to participate in the protest, al-Maliki is behaving like al-Goracle did in the 2000 elections in the US.