Iraqi poll results out

2005-02-13 15:28

Baghdad - Iraq's electoral commission on Sunday started announcing the final results from last month's general election, the first free polls in the country in five decades.

"Today marks the birth of a new Iraq and a free people," commission member Farid Ayar told reporters.

Fellow commission member Adel al-Lami then started announcing the results of the provincial council elections held in tandem with the vote for a new national assembly on January 30.

Partial national assembly results released earlier pointed to a landslide victory of the United Iraqi Alliance, the main coalition of Shiite religious parties blessed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

The ticket formed by the two main Kurdish parties was poised to become the second bloc in parliament, while the list of incumbent Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was a distant third.

On January 30, millions of Iraqis went to polling stations for the first time since Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in April 2003, braving security threats to take part in elections internationally acclaimed as a major milestone on the country's path to democracy.

Iraqis voted for a 275-member National Assembly, 18 provincial councils, while Kurds also picked their 111-member autonomous parliament.

Ayar said earlier that the results announced Sunday would be "final but uncertified" and would only be definitive and official if no challengers were lodged over the next three days.

A government line-up is not expected immediately as officials have warned that it could take up to several weeks to reach an ethnic and religious balance acceptable to all parties.

All key posts are due to be announced at the same time.

The members of parliament will have to select a president and his two deputies, who in turn will have to unanimously pick a prime minister.

The new premier will then be tasked with choosing a cabinet that has to be approved by a majority in parliament.

According to the interim constitution, the new National Assembly has to write a permanent one by August 15, but the parliament speaker and a majority of the chamber can decide on a non-renewable six-month extension.

If the initial deadline is met, the country's new basic law will be submitted to a referendum on October 15 before polls for a new constitutionally elected government are held on December 15.

- AFP