Nationalist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's joint list with communists won Iraq's legislative election in May according to a manual recount, the electoral commission said today, paving the way for a government to be formed nearly three months after the polls.
Allegations of fraud prompted the recount, but Sadr's alliance retained all 54 of the 329 seats it won in the May 12 vote, with the only change being an extra seat for the Conquest Alliance of pro-Iranian former paramilitary fighters, which remains in second place.