Shi’ites, Kurds big winners in Iraqi election

BAGHDAD, Iraq: Clergy-backed Shi’ites and Independence-minded Kurds swept to victory in Iraq’s elections, according to final results released yesterday, propelling to power  the groups that suffered most under Saddam Hussein and forcing Sunni Arabs to the margins for the first time in modern history. The United States’ choice for political power of Iraq, incumbent interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shi’ite, fared badly at the polls with his ticket finishing a distant third.

The Shi’ites’ 48 percent of the vote in the January 30 election fell short of the votes needed to control the 275-member National Assembly. That now places the focus on backdoor deals to  create a new government — possibly in an alliance with the Kurds — and on efforts to lure Sunnis into the fold and away from a bloody insurgency.  “This is a new birth for Iraq,” election commission spokesman Farid Ayar said, announcing the results. Iraqi voters “became a legend in their confrontation with terrorists.” The Shi’ite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance ticket received 4,075,295 votes or about 48 percent of the total cast, officials said. The Kurdistan Alliance, a coalition of two main Kurdish parties, finished second with 2,175,551 votes or 26 percent and the Iraqi List headed by Allawi stood third with 1,168,943 votes or nearly 14 percent.

Parties have three days to lodge complaints, after which the results will be certified and seats in the new assembly distributed. Seats will generally be allocated according to the percentage of votes that each ticket won. It appeared only 12 coalitions would take seats. “This is a great victory for the Iraqi people,” said Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the Shi’ite ticket. “We will have an assembly  which is elected by the people and the government which is  completely legitimate and elected by the people.”

But the results also highlighted the sharp differences among Iraq’s ethnic, religious and cultural groups — many of whom fear domination not just by the Shi’ites, estimated at 60 percent of the population, but also by the Kurds, the most pro-American group with about 15 percent. Overall, national turnout was about 60 percent, the commission said —but only two percent of the eligible voters cast ballots in Anbar province, the Sunni insurgent stronghold that includes Ramadi and Fallujah.