Clergy-backed Shiites and independence-minded Kurds swept to victory in Iraq's landmark elections, 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, according to final results released on Sunday.
But the Shiites' 48 per cent of the vote is far short of the two-thirds majority needed to control the 275-member National Assembly. The results threw immediate focus on Iraqi leaders' backdoor dealmaking to create a new coalition government - possibly in an alliance with the Kurds - and on efforts to lure Sunnis into the fold and away from a bloody insurgency.
Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, the secular Shiite chosen by the United States to lead this country for the last eight turbulent months, fared poorly - his ticket finishing a distant third behind the religious Shiites and Kurds.
"This is a new birth for Iraq," election commission spokesman Farid Ayar said, announcing results of the Jan. 30 polling, the first free election in Iraq in more than 50 years and the first since Saddam fell. Iraqi voters "became a legend in their confrontation with terrorists."
Iraqi Kurds danced in the streets and waved Kurdish flags when results were announced in the oil-rich, ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk. Thousands more Kurds - a people who were gassed and forced from their homes by Saddam's forces - turned out in Sulaimaniyah, firing weapons in the air and carrying posters of their leaders. "I feel that I am born again," said Bakhtiyar Mohammed, 42. "I am very happy because we suffered a lot. Now I can say that I am an Iraqi Kurd with pride."
{{/usCountry}}Iraqi Kurds danced in the streets and waved Kurdish flags when results were announced in the oil-rich, ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk. Thousands more Kurds - a people who were gassed and forced from their homes by Saddam's forces - turned out in Sulaimaniyah, firing weapons in the air and carrying posters of their leaders. "I feel that I am born again," said Bakhtiyar Mohammed, 42. "I am very happy because we suffered a lot. Now I can say that I am an Iraqi Kurd with pride."
{{/usCountry}}The Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance ticket received 4,075,295 votes, or about 48 per cent 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 per cent. And the Iraqi List headed by Allawi stood third with 1,168,943 votes, or nearly 14 per cent.
The US State Department called the election a "positive and significant accomplishment" and urged Iraqis who were not elected to remain involved in the political process.