Iraqi election officials say court bars 2 winning candidates, throwing vote results into doubt

Iraq officials: 2 winning candidates disqualified

BAGHDAD — An Iraqi election official says a special court tasked with reviewing election-related complaints has disqualified two winning candidates from the March 7 parliamentary election.

At least one of the two belongs to a coalition led by a secular Shiite and which defeated Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s bloc, winning 91 seats, compared to 89 by the incumbent.

The official, Saad al-Rawi, told The Associated Press Monday it was still unclear whether the decision would affect the outcome of the vote.

The court was acting on a request by a committee which vets candidates for ties to Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Since the court also threw out the votes the barred candidates received, the commission must now figure out whether that changes the outcome.