BAGHDAD, Feb 13: A Shia Islamist bloc won Iraq's first election since Saddam Hussein's overthrow, sealing the political emergence of the nation's long-oppressed majority.
The Electoral Commission said on Sunday the Shia list, known as the United Iraqi Alliance, took more than 48 per cent of the vote. But this was less than the bloc had predicted and leaves it six or seven seats short of a majority in parliament.
A powerful Kurdish alliance came second with 25.7 per cent, while a grouping led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shia, came third with nearly 14 per cent.
Few Sunni Arabs took part in the voting, which effectively marginalizes the minority that has traditionally ruled modern Iraq and held a privileged position under Saddam.
Meanwhile, leading members of the Iraqi Shia coalition that swept to election victory extended a hand Sunday to the ousted Sunni Arab elite and promised to include them in the next phase of the political process.
"We have stated previously and we repeat that we will follow the principle of dialogue and we will work with all those who were excluded or excluded themselves from these elections," said Finance Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi.
Abdel Mahdi is one of the most senior figures of the United Iraqi Alliance, backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Ibrahim Jaafari, the leader of the Dawa party and another leading member of the Sistani-backed list, also vowed to involve the under-represented Sunni minority in the upcoming constitution-drafting phase.
The commission said 8.5 million Iraqis, or 58 per cent of registered voters, cast ballots in the Jan 30 poll, Iraq's first multi-party election for half a century. -Agencies
