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US, UK congratulate Iraq
Baghdad's neighbors warned steps needed to be taken to include groups that boycotted the vote or were marginalised.
The United States and Britain on Sunday welcomed the results of Iraq's landmark elections, but Baghdad's neighbours warned steps needed to be taken to include groups that boycotted the vote or were marginalised.
"Two weeks ago, more than eight million Iraqis defied terrorists and went to the polls," US President George W Bush said in a statement.
"The world saw long lines of Iraqi men and women voting in a free and fair election for the first time in their lives. The United States and our coalition partners can all take pride in our role in making that great day possible," he said.
Bush's comments came after Iraq's election commission announced that the United Iraqi Alliance backed by top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani won 48.1 per cent of the vote in the January 30 election.
Under the complex system of awarding seats it will get a narrow majority in the transitional parliament.
Total turnout in Iraq's first democratic election in half a century was around 59 per cent, the Independent Electoral Commission added.
"I congratulate the Iraqi people for defying terrorist threats and setting their country on the path of democracy and freedom," Bush said. "And I congratulate every candidate who stood for election and those who will take office once the results are certified."
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the "Iraqi people have taken another important step on the way to a secure and democratic future."
He congratulated those elected to the new Transitional National Assembly, and wished them well with their first task of electing a president and two vice presidents.
Iraq's western neighbour Jordan said it hoped that "all parties" need join the future political process, in a clear call to Iraqi Sunni Arabs who largely boycotted the elections.
The next step "must take into consideration all parties and their representation", Jordan's government spokeswoman Asma Khodr told AFP shortly after the results were announced in Baghdad.
Turkey was openly critical of the elections and their results, saying the process failed to ensure the fair representation of all ethnic groups in the conflict-ridden country and called for compensation measures.
"The low turnout of some groups in the elections, the fact that almost no votes were cast in a number of provinces and the fact that manipulations in certain regions, including Kirkuk, led to unbalanced results are issues that need to be considered seriously," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
It added these led to an unfair representation of different ethnic and religious groups in the Iraqi parliament, which will draw up the country's constitution.
"It is seen as absolutely essential for the safety of the political process in Iraq to compensate for the unbalanced representation in the country's administration," the statement added.
Iraq's northern neighbour is particularly irked by the strong gains of the two main Kurdish parties in the north of country, which came in second in the elections after the main Shiite alliance with 25.7 per cent of the vote.
The Kurds also won an absolute majority in local polls in the oil-rich city Kirkuk, which many want to see as the capital of a future independent Kurdish state.
Turkey fears that independence-minded Kurdish moves in northern Iraq will embolden separatism across the border in southeastern Turkey, where a Kurdish rebellion has already claimed some 37,000 lives.
