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Shia list wins most votes in Iraq polls

by ALJ
An alliance of Shia groups won the most votes in Iraq's 30 January election, but the percentage it received - 47.6% - was lower than many expected, according to the final vote tally released on Sunday.
The Shia list is expected to take 132 seats in the new 275-member National Assembly, according to election commission results.

A coalition of the two main Kurdish parties won 25.4% and a bloc led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi got 13.6%.

Turnout in last month's election was about 59%, with a total of 8,456,266 people voting, election commission officials said.

Only 2% of eligible Iraqis in the Sunni Arab-dominated Anbar province voted in the elections, and only 29% in the mainly Sunni Salahadin province, the final tally showed.

The low turnout in Sunni provinces showed that many Sunni Arabs boycotted the election or stayed away out of fear, potentially worsening sectarian tension in Iraq.

Furious horse-trading

The vote determines the composition of a 275-member National Assembly that must agree on a president and two vice-presidents by a two-thirds majority.

Those three officials will then agree on a prime minister and cabinet, and their choices must be approved by a majority in the assembly.

With no bloc gaining dominance on its own, there has already been furious horse-trading to try to strike deals.

The United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) insists that one of its candidates -probably current Finance Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi or Vice President Ibrahim Jaafari - be appointed prime minister.

The Kurds want their candidate, Jalal Talabani, to be president or prime minister.

Under one scenario, the two blocs could do a deal with a Shia candidate getting the prime minister's job and Talabani the presidency.

But Allawi, who visited Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday and met Talabani, may also try to form alliances to improve his chances. If he can make a deal with the Kurds and persuade some of the Shia alliance to break away, he may be able to keep his job.

Political deadlock?

Even if Sunni Arabs are largely shut out of government, they could still potentially veto the new Iraqi constitution due to be written this year, causing political deadlock.

One of the main tasks of the National Assembly is to oversee the drafting of a constitution which must be approved by a referendum.

Armed Sunni groups who have relentlessly attacked US troops, Iraqi security forces and officials have also turned their violence on Shias, raising fears of sectarian civil war.

Iraq has announced it will close its land borders from Thursday to try to prevent a flood of foreign pilgrims arriving for Ashura, one of the holiest events in the Shia calendar, when millions of people converge on shrines in Iraq.

A car bomb exploded near an Iraqi security forces checkpoint on the road between Hilla and Karbala in a mainly Shia area south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least one person.

Human bombers attacked pilgrims in Baghdad and Karbala last year, killing 171 people, and Ashura could be a flashpoint again this year, especially if the poll results fuel tension.

Continued violence

The bodies of two men who worked with Allawi's party were found in a rebellious district of Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

In the northwest of the capital, fighters assassinated two senior Iraqi army officers and their driver. Al-Qaida network in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack. In the town of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, assailants shot dead a Communist party member who was also a local councillor.

In Mosul, a rocket attack on the city hall building killed at least two people, hospital officials said.

On Saturday, a suicide car bomb killed 18 people in Musayyib, a mixed Sunni and Shia town south of Baghdad.

The previous day, a suicide car bomb killed 13 people near a Shia mosque in Balad Ruz, northeast of Baghdad, and fighters attacked a Shia bakery in the capital, killing nine.

Al-Qaida's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the Balad Ruz attack but said its target was a nearby Iraqi army patrol, not the mosque.

Political map

Zarqawi's group has previously issued statements denouncing the elections and condemning Iraqis for taking part in them.

Earlier on Sunday, Jawad Taqi, the official in charge of political relations in the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), told Aljazeera that SCIRI and the other major constituents of the UIA believe all Iraqi political forces should participate in forming the Iraqi government and drawing up the new constitution.

"Intensive talks are being held with all Iraqi sides that have participated and boycotted the elections in order to reach a specific vision of the formation of the new Iraqi government," Taqi said.

"The Iraqi national society will include many different forces, including Kurdish parties and Allawi's party."
Aljazeera + Agencies

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8D5BB835-2956-462A-9409-144C74E7B119.htm
by Al Bawaba
The list of candidates representing Iraq's majority Shiites won the most votes in the nation's Jan. 30 election, followed by the Kurds and then interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's list, Iraqi election officials said Sunday.

The Shiite-dominated list - United Iraqi Alliance backed by top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani - received 4. 075million votes, say48 % of the vote. A Kurdish alliance was second with2 . 175million votes and Allawi's list was third with1 .168 million, say13 .8% of the vote.

Of Iraq's 14 million eligible voters,8 ,456, 266cast ballots, the commission said, according to The AP. That represents a turnout of less than 60percent.

Election officials said just3 , 775valid votes were cast in the Sunni province of Anbar.

About1 . 75million votes were cast in the Kurdish-ruled areas of northern Iraq. Iraqis living in those areas also elected a new regional parliament.

The results released Sunday will not be certified for three days, officials said. "This is a new birth for Iraq," commission spokesman Farid Ayar said.

http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/180040
by more
UNITED IRAQI ALLIANCE: Shiite-dominated ticket, won more than 4 million votes, or about 48 percent of the total cast. 228 candidates, drawn largely from the Shiite political establishment and tacitly endorsed by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. It includes Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, cleric who heads Iraq's largest political group, the Shiite Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

------

KURDISH ALLIANCE LIST: 165 candidates, most notably Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Massoud Barzani and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Jalal Talabani. Received 2.175 million votes, or 26 percent -- second only to the United Iraqi Alliance in the election.

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THE IRAQI LIST: 233 candidates, led by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Includes a mix of Shiites and Sunnis, but Shiites account for the majority of top names. Considered more secular than the United Iraqi Alliance, it was third in candidate lists, winning about 1.168 million votes, or 13.8 percent of the total.

------

IRAQIS PARTY: Party's 80 candidates, led by interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, were overwhelmed in the election -- they only won about 150,000 votes, or less than 2 percent. Mix of Sunnis and Shiites, and favored by some Sunnis who agreed with al-Yawer's opposition to U.S. attacks aimed at wiping out insurgents in the hotbed cities of Fallujah and Mosul.

------

ASSEMBLY OF INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATS: List of 78 candidates led by Sunni elder statesmen, Adnan Pachachi, took only 12,000 votes, or 0.1 percent. Had been expected to fare well among intellectuals and the urban middle class.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/3037833
Political lists represented in Iraq's275 -seat National Assembly following the announcement of final results from the January 30 election will have seats as follows:

*

United Iraqi Alliance, Shiite coalition backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani: 132 seats
*

Kurdish Alliance of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party: 71 seats
*

Iraqi List of outgoing prime minister Iyad Allawi: 38 seats
*

Iraqiyun list of outgoing Sunni president Ghazi al-Yawar:5
*

Turkmen Front:3
*

National Independent Cadres and Elite, linked to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr:2
*

People's Union (communist):2
*

Kurdistan Islamic Group:2
*

Organisation for Islamic Action in Iraq (Shiite):1
*

Independent Democrats of Adnan Pachachi:1
*

National list of Mesopotamia (Christian):1
*

Movement of Reconciliation and Liberation of Sunni Mishaan al-Juburi:1

http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2005-02/13/article07a.SHTML
by more detailed results
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Here is a list of the political alliances receiving the most votes in Iraq's Jan. 30 national elections and the number of seats they will receive in the 275-member National Assembly, provided the results released Sunday are certified.

The United Iraqi Alliance (Shiite alliance backed by Shiite Muslim clergy): 4,075,295 - about 48 percent - for 140 seats.

The Kurdistan Alliance (coalition of two main Kurdish factions): 2,175,551 - about 26 percent - for 75 seats.

The Iraqi List (headed by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi): 1,168,943 - about 14 percent - for 40 seats.

Iraqis (headed by interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer): 150,680 for five seats.

The Turkomen Iraqi Front (represents the countries ethnic Turks): 93,480 for three seats.

National Independent Elites and Cadres Party: 69,938 for three seats.

The Communist Party: 69,920 for two seats.

The Islamic Kurdish Society: 60,592 for two seats.

The Islamic Labor Movement in Iraq: 43,205 for two seats.

The National Democratic Alliance: 36,795 for one seat.

National Rafidain List (Assyrian Christians): 36,255 for one seat.

The Reconciliation and Liberation Entity: 30,796 for one seat.

Iraqi Islamic Party (main Sunni group headed by Mohsen Abdel-Hamid): 21,342

Assembly of Independent Democrats (headed by Sunni elder statesman Adnan Pachachi): 12,728

National Democratic Party (headed by Naseer Kamel al-Chaderchi, Sunni lawyer and member of the former Iraqi Governing Council): 1,603

Total votes: 8,550,571

Invalid votes: 94,305

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4797708,00.html
by more
Interactive: A province by province breakdown of the election results announced on February 13.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,5860,1399105,00.html
by IOL (reposted)
iraqocv_results.pdfkhlwww.pdf_600_.jpg
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