Car bomb in Iraq kills eight and injures 21

A CAR bomb exploded in the Iraqi city of Falluja yesterday, killing eight and wounding 21.

The majority of casualties were workers who had gathered in the hope of being hired for a day’s casual labour. This was the first major attack since multiple bombings in Baghdad killed 38 on the morning of the March 7th parliamentary election.

In Baghdad, the electoral commission continued correlating poll results. The State of Law list headed by moderate Shia fundamentalist prime minister Nouri al-Maliki was ahead in seven out of 18 provinces, including Baghdad, where his slate has secured 50 per cent more votes than rivals.

The secular Iraqiya list led by Iyad Allawi was leading in five provinces, including Nineveh, the second largest, where it was far ahead of competitors.

With 52 per cent of the vote reported, Iraqiya was also leading the Kurdistan Alliance in Tamim (Kirkuk) where the Alliance initially claimed eight of 13 seats.

The Kurdish Alliance, dominated by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdish Democratic Party, had hoped for a landslide in Tamim in order to claim the parliamentary vote should constitute a referendum on the status of the province, which the Kurds seek to incorporate into their region.

Although the Alliance slate seems to have failed to secure an overwhelming majority, its votes combined with those of the three other Kurdish parties could constitute a majority.

This could deepen the potentially violent rivalry between Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen in the province and exacerbate the existing rift over this strategic, oil-rich area between the Kurds and Baghdad.

The Kurdish Alliance and the pro-Iranian fundamentalist Shia Iraqi National Alliance (INA) were each leading in three provinces.

The Kurdish Alliance was ahead in the three provinces comprising the Kurdish region, although the opposition Goran (“Change”) movement remained competitive in Sulaimaniya. The INA was leading in three southern Shia provinces.

As the commission leaked results province by province, impatient Iraqis criticised the slowness of the process and independent Iraqi election monitors questioned whether the election was free and fair.

Three western-supported Iraqi institutions that deployed observers at nearly 42,000 of the 52,000 voting stations criticised the election commission for failing to provide proper voter rolls.

Some registered voters found their names missing from rolls at stations where they were meant to vote, while 250,000 members of the armed forces were, reportedly, not able or not permitted to participate in early voting on March 4th.

Unauthorised persons were said to have gained admittance to polling stations, while some family or clan members were allowed to vote on behalf of others.

The Irish Times, reporting from Sulaimaniya on polling day, saw voters being transported to polling stations by buses hired by parties. These voters were given slips of paper on which were printed the names and numbers to check on the ballot.

This practice was said to be common throughout Iraq.