Iraq official: Banned candidates can take seats

BAGHDAD — The head of a committee tasked with vetting candidates for ties to Saddam Hussein’s regime says an appeals court has overturned a ban on nine winning candidates from the parliamentary election.

The decision removes a major hurdle for the candidates to take their seats, and clears the way for the formation of the next government.

The decision by the so-called Accountability and Justice Committee to ban the candidates, many who came from a Sunni-backed bloc, was perceived as an attempt to overturn election results that handed the Shiite prime minister a narrow loss.

The Shiite head of the committee, Ali al-Lami, said the court informed him that the appeals were accepted.