Maliki Leads in Election Results

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s coalition appears likely to win a plurality of votes in his country’s parliamentary elections, officials tell The New York Times. But don’t expect an official announcement anytime soon: Ayad Allawi, the secular Shiite who is the main challenger to Maliki, called the vote into question after former exile Ahmed Chalabi did the same. “The insistence of some on tampering with the elections have made us put new question marks on the possibility of fraudulent results that would make them worthless in conveying the vote of the Iraqis,” Allawi’s coalition said in a statement.