Former Iraqi PM takes election with unity call

As people in Sunni areas of Baghdad heard the full results of the election, they ran through the streets firing their rifles into the air in celebration and triumphantly chanting the name of Iyad Allawi, the leader of the political bloc that won the most seats in Parliament.

Allawi had been expected to do well but the extent of his success is still surprising.

His al-Iraqiya coalition won 91 seats in the 325-seat Parliament, against 89 seats for the Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's State of Law bloc.

As interim Prime Minister in 2004-2005 Allawi ran an administration chiefly notable for its incompetence and corruption, so his political rebirth is astonishing.

It has happened because, whatever his failings then, the bloodbath that followed his rule was even worse, particularly for the Sunni community which had been ousted from power with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

This is Allawi's strength, and his weakness. His success was the result of a massive turn-out of Sunni voters, enabling him to sweep away the opposition in the Sunni-majority provinces north and west of Baghdad.

He also did well in the capital, now very much Shiite-dominated, which means that many Shiites were attracted by his nationalist and non-sectarian platform.

But the political landscape of Iraq remains determined by sectarian and ethnic differences between Shiite and Sunni Arabs and the Kurds.

The strength of Allawi is the backing of the Sunni, but they make up only 15 to 20 per cent of the population.

The Shiite vote was split between Maliki's State of Law and the Iraqi National Alliance which won 70 seats. Those two blocs are now in talks about a merger which would give them almost half the seats in Parliament.

A new government would only need the addition of the 43 seats of the main Kurdish party to give them a majority.

The election marks an important moment of transition. The good news is that the Sunni community which boycotted the last parliamentary election in 2005 have taken part in the poll, and have no immediate reason to take up arms again.

The same is true of the Sadrists, who won some 40 seats in Parliament, and whose Mehdi army militia fought the Americans in 2004 and were in the forefront of the Shiite-Sunni civil war in 2006-7.

What happens next in Iraq will not be decided entirely within the country. Allawi's campaign was heavily financed by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states.

The Iranians will similarly support the Shiite parties coming together to form the core of a new government, though without Maliki.

As the US withdraws, Iraq will remain violent and divided. But it is not dissolving, and there is less of a chance of it sliding back into full-scale war.

- INDEPENDENT