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Iraqi panel wants to bar 4 elected on winning list
A committee that vets candidates for ties to Saddam Hussein's regime is recommending four people elected to parliament from the winning list of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi be disqualified, an official on the committee said Monday. The challenge risks deepening Iraq's sectarian tensions.
If the courts accept the recommendation, it could alter the outcome of the March 7 vote in which Allawi's secular Shiite-Sunni coalition beat a bloc led by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki by just two seats.
In particular, that could fuel feelings of disenfranchisement by Iraq's minority Sunnis, many of whom backed Allawi's list and believe the vetting committee is trying to rob them of a victory and tilt the election outcome back to the Shiite-led majority.