One winning Sunni candidate for parliament is being held incommunicado in prison while 3 are evading security forces. Maliki is making trumped up terrorism charges to try to change the results of the election.
All four candidates ran in Diyala province, a restive mainly Sunni area north of Baghdad. One candidate who won more than 28,000 votes is being held incommunicado in a Baghdad jail, two other winners are on the run and the whereabouts of the fourth, a woman, are unknown.
Maliki alluded to the cases in his televised refusal Friday to accept a loss in the March 7 parliamentary elections, saying of unnamed rival candidates: "What would happen if some of them are in prison now on terror accusations and they participated in the elections and might win?"
Because Maliki is behind Allawi in the election by just 2 seats in parliament, overturning the election of these 4 candidates would undo Maliki's electoral loss. These 4 cases will be decided in court in 2 weeks according to McClatchey's report.
A McClatchey reporter got confirmation of the story from an Iraqi government source.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to address the cases publicly, the official identified the four candidates as: Dahlaki, the Baquba council chairman who won nearly 12,000 votes, according to official results; Najm Abdullah al Harbi, a Diyala provincial council member with more than 28,000 votes; Mohammed Othman, former mayor of the town of Saadiya with nearly 10,000 votes; and Ghydaa Saeed, a political newcomer who's said to be under scrutiny because she's related to a cabinet member from Saddam Hussein's former regime. She won nearly 6,800 votes.
The security official said arrest warrants have been issued for the first three and that a fourth, for Saeed, is expected any day. He added that all the cases hinged on accusations related to terrorism.
The charge against al Harbi is particularly egregious. Harbi lost a son to "Al Qaida in Iraq" terrorists for holding elected office in Diyala province.
Active Sunni participation in this election has gained Sunnis more seats in parliament. However, if Maliki and his Shiite block are unable to accept the electoral result, they threaten to undermine all the progress towards peace and stability that has been made in the past 2 years.