The recount of Baghdad votes, begun on Monday, is being monitored by EU and UN observers [AFP]
The recount of Baghdad votes, begun on Monday, is being monitored by EU and UN observers [AFP]
Officials said on Monday that the process could take between two to three weeks.
Iraq's election commission has begun manually recounting around 2.5 million ballots cast in Baghdad during the country's parliamentary election almost two months ago.
"We will count 600 boxes today," Qassim al-Abbudi, an official with the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), said.
Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's incumbent prime minister, demanded the recount and alleged fraud had occurred after provisional results handed a two-seat lead to the political bloc led by his rival, Iyad Allawi.
Baghdad province accounts for about a fifth of parliament's 325 seats. Al-Maliki had challenged results in four other provinces as well, but had those requests denied.
The recount was being carried out inside the green zone under the supervision of observers from the UN and the European Union.
Iraq's March 7 parliamentary poll produced no clear winner, with Allawi's Iraqiya coalition winning the highest number of seats, 91, and al-Maliki's State of Law bloc coming a close second, with 89 seats.
A political bloc needs 163 seats in parliament in order to form a government.
However, coalition-building talks between the major blocs and smaller parties in order to achieve that number appear to have stalled.
The Iraqi election commission has started to manually recount about 2.5 million ballots cast in the capital Baghdad during .

Counting could take from two to three weeks, according to officials. An official for the Independent High Electroral Commission, Qassim al-Abbudi, said that "we will count 600 boxes today".

The recount was requested by incumbent Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is accusing the opposition of fraud, when provisional results gave the bloc led by rival  a two-seat lead. al-Maliki's election coalition, however, now says the recount should be stopped, saying the election commission isn't using the correct procedures and will have an incorrect result.

The Iraqi parliamentary poll, held on March 7, resulted in the Iraqiya bloc receiving 91 seats, while the incumbent PM's State of Law coalition taking 89 seats; in order to form a government, a block must obtain 163 parliament seats.