One side alleges irregularities in Iraq elections

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - An opposition party contended yesterday that there were violations in the presidential and parliamentary elections in Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region but said it still expected a strong showing.

The opposition front Change was at the heart of a push to shake up the political establishment in Iraq's three Kurdish-ruled provinces, which have been dominated by two parties for decades.

The semiautonomous Kurdish region has largely escaped the violence that has plagued the rest of the country since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

Underscoring the persistent dangers facing Iraqis elsewhere in the country, a suicide bomber struck a funeral in a former insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad yesterday, killing as many as five people, including two police officers, according to authorities.

The attacker detonated his explosives belt about 9:30 p.m. while mourners were gathered in a tent for the funeral of a police officer killed in a roadside bombing the night before in the Anbar province town of Khladiyah.

Two police officers and three civilians died, according to a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission said 78 percent of 2.5 million eligible voters cast ballots in Saturday's elections in the Kurdish region. The turnout apparently was fueled by excitement over the rare show of opposition to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which have been accused of corruption, intimidation, and a failure to provide services.

Shahou Saeed, a spokesman for Change, said it had registered complaints with the electoral commission, including allegations of an unwarranted extension of polling hours and balloting by unregistered voters. An independent Kurdish electoral-observer panel raised concerns that the ink used to mark the thumbs of those who had cast ballots could be easily washed off, possibly allowing people to vote more than once.

Preliminary results were to be announced today, according to a statement from the Iraqi government media office.

Early projections based on counts by the parties suggested that the PUK and KDP would retain their majority in parliament, with President Massoud Barzani at the helm, while the Change list scored big in the city of Sulaimaniyah, a stronghold of the PUK, led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

In Baghdad yesterday, five people were killed in a brazen daylight attack at a popular money-exchange office. The gunmen broke into the al-Nibal money changer in the commercial Karrada district around noon, killing three employees and two customers, two Iraqi police officials said.