BAGHDAD, Jan. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq's electoral commission announced on Monday the findings of its investigations about the alleged fraud in the general elections last December, throwing out ballot boxes of 227 polling stations.

    Abdul Hussein al-Hindawi of the commission told a news conference that the commission was voiding the results of 227 ballot boxes out of a total of some 31,500, but suggested this would not affect the overall result of the poll.

    The commission released the findings of the investigations of 1985 complaints about the last month's elections, including 58 serious election complaints across Iraq, said al-Hindawi.

    Hindawi said that the final certified results of the Dec. 15 elections will be released within few days, without specifying the date.

    Late month, partial results of the elections showed that the Shiites succeeded in garnering the most votes in Baghdad and Shiite-dominated provinces.

    Disappointed Sunnis and secularists have organized series of demonstrations in Baghdad in protest against the partial election results, saying that the December polls were rigged.

     They also demanded a rerun of the elections, categorically rejected by the Shiites.

    An international team reached the country late last month and worked on evaluating the election results, meeting representatives from Sunni and secular political parties who have claimed a wide-scale electoral fraud. Enditem