The front-runner in Iraq's recent parliamentary elections is calling for the formation of an impartial caretaker government to prevent the country from sliding into violence and counter what he says are efforts to change the vote results.

Former Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi, seen in this April 6 photo, is vying to become Iraq's next PM. (Khalid Mohammed/Associated Press)

Former prime minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shia whose cross-sectarian coalition narrowly won the most votes in the country's March 7 election, said Wednesday that recent moves to disqualify candidates and hold recounts is a violation of the people's vote and an attempt to "steal the will of the Iraqi people."

His call comes after an Iraqi court in charge of investigating election-related complaints disqualified one of his candidates over alleged ties to the former regime.

The court's ruling came at the urging of a commission investigating politicians' connections with executed president Saddam Hussein's regime. The commission is also asking that several other candidates lose their seats.

The court is expected to rule on those issues in the coming days.

Disqualifying Allawi's candidates would favour incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's bloc, which came second in the elections.

"Certainly, what is going on is a theft of the Iraqi will and democracy, jeopardizing the safety of the country," Allawi said in an interview Wednesday on the Iraqi al-Sharqiya satellite channel. "We will call for the forming of a new interim government."

"Regretfully, the issue has reached a level where we can't keep silent," he said, citing efforts to disqualify his candidates and recount ballots. He also expressed concern over who was guarding the ballot boxes.

The narrow election victory by Allawi's Iraqiya coalition, which was heavily backed by Iraq's Sunni minority, was immediately assailed by al-Maliki, whose coalition garnered just two seats less.

Al-Maliki has won a recount in Baghdad that has yet to take place, and has also been aided by a commission established by parliament that probes candidates for ties to Saddam's former ruling Baath Party.

Hundreds of candidates were barred from running prior to the election by the Accountability and Justice Commission, and now dozens of those who ran are being investigated.

"The accountability commission is illegal and illegitimate and works randomly without any cause or accusation," Allawi said in the interview. "It works with no constitutional cover."

Allawi warned that further delays in forming a new government only give "terrorists" the opportunity to kill more people.