Iraq's electoral commission says ballots are still being counted

Iraq's electoral commission says parliamentary election ballots are still being counted. It's backed off from an expected announcement of partial results on Tuesday evening.

Officials, say preliminary results are not expected for at least another day, and possibly two. They reveal that about 62 percent of elligible voters in the country had turned out to vote.

The number was higher than last year's provincial ballot. Informal tallies suggest Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc is doing well in the Shi'ite south, while a secular, Sunni-Shi'ite alliance, Iraqi National Alliance, led by former prime minister Iyad Allawi appears strong in Sunni areas in the north and west.

Electoral workers carry ballot boxes at a counting center in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)