BAGHDAD, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said it was premature to tout the provincial elections as a sign of peace as the post-election climate grows tense.
Allawi said some of the parties that did not place well in the Jan. 31 elections may use violence as a means to settle disputes in the post-election environment, the Iraqi satellite channel al-Sumaria reported Tuesday.
Allawi also complained that the elections did not include members of the outlawed Baath Party who were loyalists to the former regime but had no blood on their hands.
The former premier blamed Iran, meanwhile, for meddling in Iraqi internal affairs, saying it was Tehran that supported sectarianism in its Arab neighbor.
The Iraqi National List, led by Allawi, had said it would contest the preliminary results of the provincial elections, saying "powerful parties" had interfered.
The party fared poorly in many of the provinces in which it ran but managed a second-place showing in Salah ad-Din province with about 14 percent of the vote.
