11/04/04 Déjà Vu: Sunnis cry foul over Iraq vote, Meet the new boss

Sunnis cry foul over Iraq vote

BAGHDAD (Reuters) Iraq's rebellious Sunni Arab minority cried foul on Tuesday over results of last week's election, angry at signs Shi'ite Islamists will remain the dominant force.

Warnings of fresh violence and of a Sunni Arab boycott of the new parliament soured the honeymoon atmosphere that followed Thursday's vote, when an informal ceasefire by guerrillas keen for a role in politics helped promote a big turnout across Iraq.

The Electoral Commission, where one official was taken to hospital after a heated dispute with colleagues, dismissed many of the complaints as pressure from losers; there were problems, but they were not serious enough to affect the results greatly.

A Jordanian embassy driver was kidnapped by gunmen at his Baghdad home, the latest of many foreigners to be abducted.



An Iraqi man grieves at the coffin of his son, a policeman, in the Iraqi city of Baquba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad December 20, 2005. (Helmiy Al-Azawi/Reuters)

Sounds like Florida? The Shiites defeated the Sunnis in Baghdad. In Baghdad!