In an address to the National Security Council, Al-Maliki said, "We say the election was unfair, without having any evidence about fraud or corruption.
   
He said we should all believe the election was handled in nothing but a respectful manner.
 
He added, "we should comply with it´s results, unless we have evidence of fraud or rigging which can be dealt with."

The remarks came as the prime minister reportedly pulled ahead in early election results.
 
They come a week after an election  that Iraqis hope will end years of sectarian violence.

But a relatively tight race has set the scene for week of negotiations to form a new government.

Early results from 14 of 18 provinces show Al-Maliki´s State of Law bloc ahead in six provinces.

They include the election prizes Baghdad and Basra.

Early results show al-Maliki won almost twice as many votes in southern Basra as the Iraqi National Alliance, a group close to Iran, that is Al-Maliki´s main competitor among the Shi´ite majority.

Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi´s party was a distant third in Basra.
 
But his secularist, cross-sectarian group is in second place in overall vote counting.

New results showed Allawi swept western Anbar province, a stronghold for minority Sunnis.

The early results represent only around two million votes, a small share of about 12 million votes cast.