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Partridge
01-20-2006, 04:01 PM
Shia alliance wins Iraq elections
The Guardian & Agencies (http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1691278,00.html)

An alliance of Shia parties won the most seats in the Iraqi elections but did not secure enough to govern without a coalition, it was confirmed today.

The United Iraqi Alliance won 128 of Iraq's 275 parliamentary seats - 10 short of the number needed to win an overall majority in the December 15 poll.

It will now build a coalition to form Iraq's first fully democratically-elected government - a development keenly awaited by the US, which led the 2003 invasion of the country and the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

The results confirmed today were broadly in line with the preliminary returns. The Kurdish bloc won 53 seats, while two of the main Sunni groups won 55 seats in total - a much better showing than Sunnis had managed in last January's interim elections, in which they won 17 seats.

The minority Sunnis largely boycotted that vote, and major efforts were made to try to encourage their engagement in December's poll.

Officials believe greater Sunni involvement in the political process could help reduce the Sunni-dominated insurgency in Iraq.

Results confirmed today showed the two main Sunni Arab groups - the Accordance Front and the National Dialogue Front - had secured 44 and 11 seats respectively. Some other Sunni candidates won seats on other tickets.

A secular list - headed by the former prime minister, Iyad Allawi - won 25 seats, down from the 40 it had held in the outgoing parliament.

US officials had privately hoped Mr Allawi's party might have done better and that religious Shia parties would win fewer seats, curbing their power.

Washington is likely to be pleased that the United Iraq Alliance did not win an overall majority. Its number of seats was down from the 146 it won in January 2005.

The results of last month's elections were announced by Safwat Rasheed, an official from Iraq's Electoral Commission, at a news conference.

Parties now have four days to contest the vote, and some Sunni politicians have made allegations of fraud in the past.

If politicians officially appeal against the results, officials will have 10 days in which to study any complaints before they certify the results and parliament convenes to appoint a new government.

The results were announced after an international review group yesterday concluded that the elections had been flawed but generally fair, considering Iraq's security crisis.

A change in the election law was one of the reasons why Sunnis fared better - and Kurds worse - than in the previous poll.

In the January 2005 balloting, seats were allocated based on the percentage of votes won by tickets won nationwide. However, in the December vote candidates competed for seats by district, meaning Sunnis were all but guaranteed seats in predominately Sunni areas.

Sunnis - who dominated political life in Iraq for generations and were favoured during Saddam Hussein's dictatorship - are believed to comprise around 20% of the country's estimated 27 million population. Shia form around 60% of the population and Kurds between 15% and 20%.

Security was tightened in some Sunni provinces and in the capital, Baghdad, today to coincide with the announcement of the results.