Iraq's parliament Wednesday ordered a manual recount of the May 12 legislative elections and sacked the commission which oversaw the polls that resulted in a surprise victory for a populist Shiite cleric.

After several failed attempts because of a lack of the required quorum, 173 members of the outgoing 328-seat house passed a motion to hold a recount at all polling stations, covering almost 11 million votes, in response to charges of electoral fraud.