Jawad al-Bolani - Tag Search

We've heard a lot of talk about voter fraud in the days since the election -- but how much of it is legitimate, and how much is simply political parties trying to sow doubts about the election to discredit the winner?

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani has ordered a high-level commission to investigate the Justice and Accountability Commission's decision to ban 511 candidates from the March election.

"I myself am not satisfied with the banning decision," said Talabani, a Kurd who heads the three-member presidential council. "We have sent a letter to the Supreme Appeal Court asking whether this committee that issued the decision is legitimate or not."

Talabani's announcement comes 24 hours after Iraqi vice president Tariq al-Hashimi declared the ban illegal. The two men met yesterday at Talabani's home to discuss the decision; neither has released details of the meeting, but it's clear they decided to fight the ban.

Iraqi interior minister Jawad al-Bolani is scheduled to testify before parliament today about the security situation in Baghdad. We'll update you on his testimony later today if he says anything interesting.

Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, is struggling to deal with an outpouring of public anger over Tuesday's bombings. He shuffled around two top security jobs yesterday: Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar, the head of Baghdad security, switched roles with Lt. Gen. Ahmed Hashem Awoudeh, the deputy army chief of staff. This was the first time Maliki shuffled his cabinet over security problems (though, it should be noted, nobody actually lost his job).

Two people were killed, and 11 others wounded, in a bombing in northeastern Baghdad -- the second bombing today in the Iraqi capital. An earlier explosion was caused by a bomb hidden in a garbage can in Adhamiyah.