A leading group of Iraqi Sunni clerics said today any government emerging from Iraq's landmark elections would lack legitimacy because many people had boycotted the poll.
Millions defied threats by Sunni Muslim militants and flocked to the polls on Sunday, but while turnout was high in the Shi'ite south and Kurdish north, many in the central Sunni heartland stayed home.
"These elections lack legitimacy because a large segment of different sects, parties and movements with their influence in Iraq boycotted," the Muslim Clerics' Association said in a statement.
Iraq's interim president said that tens of thousands of people may have been unable to vote because some polling places - including those in Sunni Arab areas - ran out of ballots.
As clerks entered vote-count tallies into computers to compile final results, President Ghazi al-Yawer also said that chaos and a power vacuum in Iraq mean US forces need to stay for now, even though a new government will be formed after the results are known.
Scattered clashes were reported in rebel areas across the country, but authorities still eased security restrictions by reopening borders and allowing commercial flights to take off from Baghdad Airport for the first time since the weekend's landmark election.
The allegation that many voters were turned away could further alienate minority Sunnis, who already are complaining they have been left out of the political process.
"Tens of thousands were unable to cast their votes because of the lack of ballots in Basra, Baghdad and Najaf," Mr al-Yawer, himself a Sunni Arab, said at a news conference.
Najaf is a mostly Shiite city but Basra and Baghdad have substantial Sunni populations. Elections officials acknowledged that irregularities kept people away - including in the volatile northern and heavily Sunni city of Mosul. Security worries in Sunni areas were partly to blame for the fact that some polls did not open and ballots were too few, they said.
"The elections took place under difficult conditions and this undoubtedly deprived a number of citizens in a number of areas from voting," said Mr Abdul-Hussein al-Hendawi, who heads the Iraqi electoral commission.
Although no official results from Sunday's election have been announced, officials of the United Iraqi Alliance, endorsed by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, say they expect to claim roughly half the 275 seats.
At his news conference, Mr al-Yawer was asked whether the presence of foreign troops might be fuelling the country's Sunni-led insurgency by encouraging rebel attacks.
"It's only complete nonsense to ask the troops to leave in this chaos and this vacuum of power," Mr al-Yawer said.
He said foreign troops should leave altogether only after Iraq's security forces are built up, the country's security situation has improved and some pockets of terrorists are eliminated. Sunday's election, which occurred without catastrophic rebel attacks, raised hopes that a new Iraqi government would be able to assume greater responsibility for security, hastening the day when the 170,000 US and other foreign troops can go home.