18 February 2005	Friday	08 Muharram 1426

BAGHDAD, Feb 17: Iraq's Shia alliance won a slim majority of seats in the new National Assembly, but the lead is enough for it to secure power in Baghdad in what would be the first Shia-dominated government in an Arab state in one thousand years.

Based on final results from last month's election, the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of mainly Shia religious parties, was allocated 140 seats in the 275-seat National Assembly, the Electoral Commission said.

Seventy-five seats went to a Kurdish bloc that polled the second highest number of votes in the Jan 30 ballot. An Alliance leader seen as a potential prime minister said Sunnis must now take part in drafting a constitution, however. Otherwise, some fear, sectarian tension could become civil war.

A two-thirds majority is required to approve the appointment of a president and two vice-presidents, the next step in the electoral process. The Shia alliance and Kurdish bloc are expected to work together to form such a majority.

The three-person presidency will name a prime minister and a cabinet. The Alliance's Ibrahim al Jaafari, who is front-runner to be prime minister, said the nomination had yet to be decided and that talks on the top jobs would take "a couple more days".

A group led by the present, interim, prime minister, Iyad Allawi, a secular Shia, won 40 seats in the election. The election dramatically shifted power to the majority Shias who watched many Sunnis enjoy considerable privileges under Saddam Hussein. Some fear the transition of power could stoke sectarian tensions and fuel the resistance. -Reuters