Final vote count progresses in Iraq

"The count is continuing and everything is going well," commission spokesman Farid Ayar said.

The final count of votes from Iraq's landmark elections continued on Thursday, although an electoral commission official said it was impossible to say when the final result would be released.

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"The count is continuing and everything is going well," commission spokesman Farid Ayar said. "But I can't say when the results will be available. It's pure speculation to talk of three or four days."

Electoral commission president Abdel Hussein al-Hindawi said on Wednesday that election result would be known within a few days.

But with only 11,000 ballots from Sunday's election counted at the national centre in 24 hours, according to an electoral commission official, that target seems unlikely.

The same official, requesting anonymity, said it would take another "six to eight days" to obtain the result.

An initial ballot count was made at individual polling stations and the final count began at the commission centre in Baghdad on Tuesday.