Iraqi leaders are awaiting a ruling on the fate of nine election-winning candidates who stand to be disqualified in a process that has thrown government formation into disarray.
A judicial panel eliminated at least one winning candidate and around 50 others who failed to secure parliamentary seats, drawing anger from former premier Iyad Allawi whose secular coalition narrowly won the March 7 vote.
One of those disqualified was a winning candidate from Allawi's Iraqiya bloc, which has alleged that it is being targeted by officials and religious parties who do not want him to obtain power.
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US concerned about delays
The US ambassador to Baghdad, Christopher Hill, voiced concerns about delays that, almost seven weeks after the election, have left Iraq apparently no closer to forming a government after a tight election race.
Allawi, a Shiite, whose strong backing in Sunni Arab areas led him to defeat incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, also Shiite, 91 seats to 89 according to unofficial results, said Iraqiya would challenge the disqualifications.
"We have instructed a group of lawyers to object to this decision at the appeals court," he told a news conference in Ankara on Monday. "I am sure we will be successful."
But he appeared less confident that the procedures being followed were fair.
"Frankly, we are very worried... the political process is now in the hands of a group of people from the Iraqi judiciary," Allawi said.
"They pass or reverse decisions to their liking."
Although Allawi defeated Maliki, both fell massively short of the 163 seats needed to form a majority in a new 325-seat parliament, ushering in so far fruitless coalition negotiations between them and smaller parties.
The chief of a controversial Justice and Accountability committee (JAC), whose recommendations were approved by a three-member judicial panel on Monday, said two of the 52 disqualified candidates had won seats in the election.
Candidates disqualified
"The electoral commission has disqualified 52 candidates, two of whom were elected, for their links to the Baath party (of now executed dictator Saddam Hussein)," JAC executive director Ali al-Lami told AFP.
"Tomorrow, they will pronounce on nine other winners," he said.
However, Hamdiyah al-Husseini, a senior official from the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), Iraq's election authority, told state television late Monday only one winning candidate had been disqualified.
US ambassador Hill conceded for the first time that the timeline for forming a new government was slipping, and said it now "seems it's time to get this show on the road."
"We are now approaching the two-month period (after the election) and we are concerned that the process is lagging," he told reporters in Baghdad on Monday.
"We would share the concern of those who believe that it is time that the politicians got down to business and started forming a government."
