U.N. stays out of Iraqi election fracas

BAGHDAD, March 30 (UPI) -- The responsibility to ratify the results from the March 7 parliamentary elections in Iraq lies with the Iraqis, the U.N. special envoy to the country said.

Iraqi elections officials defied a government request for a recount, releasing the final vote tally Friday. Caretaker Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on the United Nations to back his request.

Ad Melkert, the U.N. special envoy to Iraq, said the United Nations serves only as an adviser and ratification of the results is an Iraqi matter.

"The role of the United Nations is solely to advise institutions in the country on an impartial basis, at their request," the envoy stressed.

The official results from Friday indicate the secular Iraqiya slate of former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi scored a narrow victory over Maliki's State of Law coalition.

The Justice and Accountability Commission, a vetting committee overseen in part by Shiite leader Ahmed Chalabi, threatened Allawi's lead, however, when it challenged the results.

The commission said some candidates on the Allawi slate should be disqualified from serving in Parliament because of links to the outlawed Baath Party. Disqualification could erase Allawi's lead, London's Independent newspaper reports.

The commission ahead of the election purged influential Sunni leaders from the election roll on similar allegations.

Washington accused Chalabi of launching the campaign with the help of his close counterparts in Tehran.