The Shia: It is no surprise that the United Iraqi Alliance list, which includes two of the country's largest Shia political parties and which was backed by the Shia religious establishment, has emerged as comprehensive winner of the elections.
Since the removal of Saddam Hussein, the long-oppressed Shia community, about 60 per cent of the population, has been methodically preparing to take power. More than four million voters, mostly in the south and Baghdad, backed the Shia alliance.
The alliance is expected to claim the post of prime minister. As late as yesterday morning, senior figures in the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, led by Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, were predicting the Shia list would garner up to 60 per cent of the vote. But the 47 per cent share they received will not be enough for the Shia to govern alone.
It appears that at least some of the middle-class, secular Shia vote went to the list headed by the interim prime minister, Mr Iyad Allawi. A parliamentary alliance with the Kurds, or with the list headed by Mr Allawi, now seems most likely.
The results may also allay fears among Iraq's non-Muslim population that the religious Shia bloc will try to railroad through changes to Iraq's comparatively liberal personal status laws.
The Kurds: The two Kurdish leaders, Mr Massoud Barzani, of the Kurdistan Democratic party, and Mr Jalal Talabani, of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, will see the results as a vindication of the decision to set aside their rivalry and form a united slate for the elections. The 165 candidates on the Kurdish list, which also included a number of Christian and Turkoman candidates, received 2.175m votes, or 26 per cent.
If confirmed, that is more than enough to give the Kurds - about 20 per cent of the population - a say in the formation of the government and a prominent role in drafting the constitution.
"The elections were a chance for Kurds to decide their future after decades of oppression and marginalisation under the Ba'ath party," said Mr Barzani, one of the most powerful men in Iraq.
But it was the elections for the provincial council in Kirkuk - where Kurds looked set to dominate with over 48 per cent of the vote - that gave the most satisfaction. Kirkuk lies outside the self-rule area, but Kurds want it as the capital of their future federal region.
Sunni Arabs: Iraq's once all-powerful Sunni Arab minority mostly stayed at home for the election either because they were afraid of violence, or felt alienated from a process that seemed destined to end their privileged position. Sunni Arabs make up about 20 per cent of the population, but barely 2 per cent turned out to vote.
Iraq's largest mainstream Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic party, pulled out of the elections. This left the field to figures such as Ghazi al-Yawar, the interim president, a Sunni Arab whose list won only 150,000 votes, or 2 per cent. The main fear is that the poor turnout among Sunni Arabs could increase their sense of marginalisation. The raging insurgency is being fought mainly from Sunni Arab areas.
But Iraq's transitional rulers know they must include Sunni Arabs in the new administration. - (Guardian Service)