“The top United Nations envoy in Iraq urged election officials Wednesday to release the results of this week’s historic vote as quickly as possible, saying Iraqis “have the right to know” the results as soon as possible. The call by U.N. diplomat Ad Melkert came as Iraqi election officials furiously counted ballot tallies in Sunday’s election that appeared to be coming down to a contest between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, former premier Ayad Allawi and a coalition of conservative Shiites.” (03/10/10)