Complaints of cheating among rival parties in Saturday's provincial elections have threatened to boil over into violence in Anbar.Official figures from the polls have yet to be released, but the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni group which holds seats in the national parliament, said unofficial tallies showed it would retain control of the province.
The claims triggered immediate accusations of fraud from tribesmen, many of whom are leaders of the Sahwa, or Awakening, militias which have helped the U.S. military battle al-Qaeda in the province.
The stakes are particularly high in Anbar where a greater majority of Sunni parties did not participate in the 2005 election and many have high hopes of winning seats this time round.
Awakening leaders are threatening to take up arms over what they see as voter fraud at the hands of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), Iraq's largest Sunni Arab party which has controlled Anbar since 2005 polls mostly boycotted by Sunni Arabs.
Anbar was under curfew for a night and Maliki sent an envoy there to meet with local security forces and urge calm.
Preliminary results are expected on Thursday but final results will not be released until the end of the month, when electoral officials have finished investigating any complaints.