Iraq's elections committee said Tuesday it is preparing for a court-ordered manual recount of votes cast in Baghdad for the March 7 parliamentary elections. The recount is expected to begin in a matter of days.
On Monday, an Iraqi court ruled in favour of a manual recount that was asked for by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition on the grounds there was evidence of electoral fraud.
Results announced on March 26 showed the coalition had narrowly lost the vote.
Hamdiya al-Husseini, a member of the Independent High Electoral Commission, told the German Press Agency dpa: "We have no problem with manually recounting the votes in accordance to the court order."
A-Husseini said the commission needed two days to prepare for the recount, which she estimated would take around 10 days to complete.
Eleven thousand votes will be recounted in Baghdad.
Results of the elections showed former prime minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya List winning 91 seats in the 325-member parliament, followed by al-Maliki's coalition with 89 seats. The National Iraqi Alliance followed with 70 seats.
Both al-Maliki and Allawi have claimed the right to form the new government.
Kamal al-Saidi of the State of Law coalition said the coalition had presented "over 4,500 ballot forms which had been manipulated as evidence to the court. The court's decision did not result from pressure from the executive branch of government."
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