Former PM calls for interim Iraqi government to halt efforts to change election results

Former PM urges interim government in Iraq

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s former prime minister and front-runner in recent parliamentary elections has called for the formation of an interim government because of what he says are efforts to change the vote results.

Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite whose cross-sectarian coalition narrowly won most votes in the March 7 polling, has criticized what he describes as attempts to “steal the will of the Iraqi people.”

Allawi spoke early on Wednesday on an Iraqi satellite TV channel.

His call comes after an Iraqi court disqualified one of his winning candidates over alleged ties to the former regime. It’s to rule on several other candidates in coming days.

Disqualifying Allawi’s candidates would favor incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s bloc, which came second-placed in the elections.