WASHINGTON, Feb 15: The Iraqi elections have produced results that are not pleasing for the Bush administration, which had hoped the elections would bring a secular, pro-US government in Baghdad, the US media said on Monday.

The New York Times predicted that "the razor thin margin" gained by the Shia bloc may deprive Iraqis of a stable government. "The prospect of a divided national assembly, split between religious and secular parties, also appeared to signal a continuing role for the American government, which already maintains 150,000 troops here, to help broker disputes," the NYT observed.

The Washington Post noted that the top two winning parties - which together won more than 70 per cent of the vote - are Iran's closest allies in Iraq. The newspaper said thousands of members of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), a Shia-dominated slate that won almost half of the 8.5 million votes and will name the prime minister, spent decades in exile in Iran. Most of the militia members in its largest faction were trained in Iran, the paper said.

And the winning Kurdish alliance, whose co-leader Jalal Talabani is the top nominee for president, has roots in a province bordering Iran, the daily said. "The idea that the United States would get a quick, stable, prosperous, pro-American and pro-Israel Iraq has not happened.

Most of the neo-conservative assumptions about what would happen have proven false," Rami Khouri, an Arab analyst and editor of Beirut's Daily Star, said while talking to the Post.

Larry Diamond, a Stanford University professor and former adviser to the US occupation government in Iraq, said: "The big losers in this election are the liberals. The fact that three-quarters of the national assembly seats have gone to just two slates is a worrisome trend. Unless the ruling coalition reaches out to broaden itself to include all groups, the insurgency will continue - and may gain ground."

America's third most influential newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, pointed out: "Two weeks after Iraq's first democratic election, hopes for a better future have given way in some quarters to pessimism, or at least to more limited expectations, as resurgent violence and a delay in the final tally have added to political uncertainty."

The Post said the emergence of a Shia government in Iraq will have long-term implications for Washington. "For decades, both Republican and Democratic administrations played Baghdad and Tehran off each other to ensure neither became a regional giant threatening or dominant over US allies, notably Saudi Arabia and the oil-rich Gulf sheikdoms." But now, the newspaper said, Iraq and Iran are likely to take similar positions on many issues, from oil prices to US policy on Iran. "If the United States had decided three years ago to bomb Iran, it would have produced joy in Baghdad. Now it might produce strong protests from Baghdad," said Juan Cole, a University of Michigan expert on Iraq.