Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
International
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Kurd polls keep status quo, U.S. urges Iraq peace
Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:49pm EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Shamal Aqrawi
ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Opposition groups made a surprise gain in Iraqi Kurdistan's weekend elections, but ruling parties feuding with Arab leaders in Baghdad clung to power and are unlikely to end a standoff threatening Iraq's fragile calm.
The preliminary results from Saturday's presidential and parliamentary polls came shortly after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Kurdish leaders, in a visit to Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish enclave, to act quickly to reduce tensions.
Gates met Masoud Barzani, re-elected as Kurdish president with 69.6 percent of the vote, a former guerrilla leader who has refused to yield on claims to the oil-producing Kirkuk region.
That and related disputes may pose the chief threat to Iraq as sectarian violence ebbs since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Gates on Wednesday said Washington, where officials are increasingly worried about the rift between minority Kurds and majority Arabs triggering renewed violence, offered "whatever assistance we can to help resolve these disputes in a peaceful manner," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.
The polls, the first time Iraqi Kurds elected a president directly, went off on Saturday without major disruptions. Electoral officials said turnout was close to 80 percent.
A reform-minded opposition movement, Change, took a surprise 23.8 percent of the parliamentary vote, but complained of fraud and aggression from the region's ruling two-party alliance.
"These figures contradicted the real will of the Kurdish people and were the result of organized forgery ... by the two parties in power," senior Change member Shamal Abdulla said.
An official from Iraq's national election commission said there had been eight serious complaints, but they were unlikely to affect the overall election results.
Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (KDP) took 57 percent of the parliamentary vote.
"We are happy with these preliminary results and with the success of this election. It is a proud day for our people," KDP official Jaafar Ibrahim said.
MALIKI CONGRATULATES BARZANI
There had been hopes that Iraqi and Kurd officials may be more ready to make concessions now that Kurdish electioneering, featuring fiery rhetoric about disputed land and oil, is over.
At a joint news conference, Barzani and Talabani said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki would soon visit Kurdistan, and Talabani said they would "tackle problems together."
In what may be an olive branch between two leaders who barely speak, Maliki called Barzani to congratulate him on his poll win, state al-Iraqiya TV reported. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Moldovan Communists top parliament vote: exit poll
Also on Reuters
Commentary: Fed volunteers to burst bubble
Starbucks and McDonald's carve coffee niches
House husbands go for TV glory in new U.S. show
More International News
Car bomb injures 46 at Spain barracks; ETA blamed
| Video
Iraq denies Iran exile killings, exiles show images
| Video
India PM says will carry on with Pakistan dialogue
Iran says reformist to be released
Uighur leader says 10,000 went missing in one night
More International News...
Video
Iraq blasts and clashes
Play Video
More Video...
Related News
How will Kurdistan poll results affect Iraq?
11:34am EDT
Gates, in Iraq, seeks to ease Kurd-Arab tensions
1:14pm EDT
Iraq and UK officials say two UK hostages dead
3:48pm EDT
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
Madoff: Can't believe fraud lasted so long
Sunbeds join cigarettes, arsenic as top cancer threat
House Democrats clinch healthcare deal
WRAPUP 3-U.S. House Democrats clinch healthcare deal
House Democrats reach deal on healthcare bill
Organic food is no healthier, study finds
Microsoft and Yahoo strike Web search partnership | Video
U.S. states to get "significant" obesity money
Apatow stretches with flawed but funny "People"
Subprime mortgage companies warn on U.S. foreclosures
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
US, China vow closer ties
Schwarzenegger slashes spending
Mudslide triggers China train wreck
Sotomayor wins Committee approval
Spanish fire alert widens
Jackson doctor's house raided
Iraq blasts and clashes
Feds raid Jackson doctor's home
Spain bomb targets police
Philanthropy enters a new age
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.