Ayad Allawi accuses Nouri al-Maliki's group of fraud in bid to retain power
'Stolen votes' claim casts cloud over Iraq poll. Ayad Allawi told Western officials that aides to Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, had hidden ballot papers and falsified computer records in an effort to retain power. “They are stealing the votes of the Iraqi people,” his spokesman told a press conference called to set out the main claims. The Australian: Iraqi opposition leader Iyad Allawi alleges widespread election fraud. Al Jazeera: Early results show close Iraq race: Thursday's results put al-Maliki's State of Law coalition ahead in Najaf and Babil provinces south of Baghdad, while Allawi's secular Iraqiya alliance topping the list in two provinces north and east of Baghdad, the capital. In northern Iraq, a list representing Iraq's two major Kurdish parties is apparently far ahead of a reform-minded challenger, according to partial early results. Twenty eight per cent of the votes counted showed the bloc including the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Jalal Talbani, the Iraqi president, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Masoud Barazani, the regional president of Iraqi Kurdistan, are far ahead of the Goran Party, running on a reform platform.