Early reports are that a secular Sunni alliance and a religious Shiite bloc are in the lead.
The Shiite religious coalition is leading in the polls in Iraq’s five southern provinces, the Kurdish Alliance looks set to win the north and a Sunni coalition leads in a central province, unofficial results showed. . .Arab News
In a speech, while thanking insurgents for remaining peaceful during the voting, Adnan Al-Dulaimi, the leader of the main Sunni election coalition National Concord Front (NCF)called for a coalition government to protect national unity in Iraq.
Science Daily, quoting The Washington Times, reports
The Iran-backed Shiite group the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) in Iraq is said to have a strong lead in southern cities of Najaf, Basra and Karbala, the Times said.
The SCIRI is one of several Islamic religious parties that are collected under the umbrella of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) that is largely a Shiite compilation. Coming second to them is former premier Iyad Allawi’s Shiite secular party. Al-Dulami’s Sunni NCF is enjoying better results in Baghdad with reportedly 40% of the vote there.
In the north, as expected, the Kurdish Alliance (a coalition of he Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) is dominating.
Clearly, Iraq has divided itself in this election along religio-ethnic lines. Iran has successfully exported the Islamic state idea when the thousands of Shiites who fled Saddam for refuge in Iran returned once their nemesis was deposed by the US-led invasion.
In spite of the divisions, joining Al-Dulami’s call for cooperation is outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari who said Saturday that Shiites and Sunni Arabs should work hand in hand in the new parliament. Jaafari, of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), is guaranteed to Parliament as the UIA is expected to garner the highest number of seats.
“To our brothers in Mosul, Ramadi and Tikrit, I say your brothers in Najaf, Karbala and Hilla have waited a long time to work hand in hand with you under the dome of the next parliament to build the new Iraq,” he told reporters.
Jaafari urged Sunni scholars to “use their position to spread principles of unity and freedom”.
He also called on Baathists to work with “their brothers” to rebuild Iraq. Islam Online
Cautious optimism for the prospects of a functioning elected government may be in order since the Sunnis participated in these elections in strong numbers, contrary to their boycott last February, because there was little violence associated with the actual voting day, and because there are no major complaints of election fraud, factors that may signal a readiness for stability and self-rule by the Iraqi people.
It is my view that the withdrawl of American troops as rapidly as possible will augment the possibility of success as the insurgency is largely a secular Sunni phenomenon, including many former Ba’athists. And the other solid opposition to our presence is the Islamic leadership in the five southern provinces. Both these groups will likely finish one-two.
