Iraq's Shiite alliance confirmed as poll winners

Enoch · Feb 10, 2006

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BAGHDAD (AFP) -
Iraq's conservative Shiite United Iraqi Alliance was confirmed as the winner of December's elections, paving the way for the opening of parliament and forming a new government.

Within minutes of the final election tally, a remote-controlled car bomb exploded near a Sunni mosque in southern of Baghdad killing seven Sunnis and wounding 22.

Chief election commissioner Adel al-Lami read the final certified results of the polls, which were unchanged from provisional ones announced on January 20.

Friday's figures for the 275-member parliament gave 128 seats to the conservative Shiite alliance, 53 to the Kurdish Alliance, 44 to the religious Sunni-led National Concord Front and 25 to former premier Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National List.

The remaining 25 seats are held by smaller parties. Of them 11 are with Sunni politician Saleh al-Motlak's National Dialogue Front, and the rest held by small minority groups like the Turkmen, Christians and a Kurdish Islamist party.

Boosted by its own results and by the support of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and two MPs close to him, the Shiite alliance, which is dominated by religious parties, will select its prime ministerial candidate Saturday.

The two main competitors are current Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari of the Dawa Party and Adel Abdel Mahdi of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Political parties had filed 24 complaints against the results, which were examined by the Transitional Electoral Panel. Lami said "these did not change the results."

The new parliament, which will have more than 25 percent women MPs, is expected to sit within the next 15 days, as per the new constitution.

Commenting on the results, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said: "We hope that this will be a government based on national unity, formed without regard to sectarianism, committed to peace and with capable ministers who place loyalty to Iraq above that of loyalty to faction.

"These ministers should be dedicated to the defense of Iraqi democracy, not to party militias."

UN representative in Iraq Ashraf Qazi urged the political leaders "to quickly form the new government and offer stability and security to Iraq."

In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw welcomed the results, saying they were "a decisive step on the road to establishing a strong democracy."

"It is now up to the politicians of all communities to work together to form an effective and representative government," he said, pledging Britain and the international community's full support.

He added that it was "imperative" that all parties accept the outcome and play a full role in the political process.

The political dynamics changed this weei after the Sunni-led alliance got a boost Thursday when a second secular faction joined its parliamentary bloc, making it the second biggest group in the legislature.

Motlak's National Dialogue Front with its 11 MPs joined the Joint Council for National Action, giving it a total of 80 seats, comfortably ahead of the Kurdish alliance.

The Iraqi National List led by pro-Western Allawi had already announced last month that its 25 MPs would ally with the new Joint Council.
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Ben W · Feb 11, 2006

I think that the Kurds would be better off making their own nation called Kurdistan, and Turkey should be given a taste of the pressure that Israel recieves to return land to the Kurds.

Hopefully this new parliment works out, the Sunni's seem to be a minority and I am not sure how they will respond to it. Sunni's seem to be the minority, yet they are the majority in Mecca and control the shrine of the Black Rock and the majority of sites considered holy to muslims which is the focus of Ramadan, so I am not sure what would happen if the Sunni's turned around and said that nations where there is terrorism towards Sunni's cannot have visa's to join in with Ramadan, how that might be recieved?

Iraq's Shiite alliance confirmed as poll winners

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Iraq's Shiite alliance confirmed as poll winners

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