U.N. official- Iraqi elections credible & calls for rerun not justified

[Algorem]

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051228/BREAKINGNEWS/51228011

Article published Wednesday, December 28, 2005

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A United Nations official said today that Iraq’s recent parliamentary elections, which have given a strong lead to the Shiite religious bloc dominating the current government, were credible and that there was there was no justification in calls for a rerun.

In violence today, an inmate in a Baghdad prison grabbed an assault rifle from a guard Wednesday and opened fire, killing eight people, police said. One American soldier was injured in the attempted prison break, the U.S. military said.

The Shiite bloc held talks with Kurdish leaders about who should get the top 12 government jobs, as thousands of Sunni Arabs and secular Shiites protested what they say was a tainted vote. Two Sunni Arab groups and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s Iraqi National List have threatened a wave of protests and civil disobedience if fraud charges are not properly investigated.

In another of continuing political demonstrations across the country, more than 4,000 people rallied Wednesday in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, in favor of the major Sunni Arab party, the Iraqi Accordance Front. Demonstrators carried banners say “We refuse the election forgery.”