Iraqi electoral officials warned that the current figures could still change, either up or down.

But it was withdrawn after electoral officials complained to Sandinista leaders.

They also urged the the electoral officials to quickly give out an accurate count of the vote.

The turnout, electoral officials said, was around 68 percent.

A preliminary count was done by local electoral officials after the polls closed Saturday evening.

In all, the early results account for 90 percent of the roughly 10.5 million ballots cast, electoral officials said.

In some areas, electoral officials were accused of manipulating the count.

But electoral officials said the results were too fragmentary to indicate a trend.

More than two-thirds of the polling places opened at least an hour late this morning while electoral officials were delayed in setting them up.

Iraqi electoral officials are allowing three days to hear challenges before declaring the results official.