Prime minister Nuri al-Maliki rode a nationalist, law-and-order message to a decisive victory over the Shia religious parties who previously dominated Iraq, preliminary election results showed today.
The success of Mr Maliki's State of Law coalition in provincial polls in Baghdad and the Shia south gives a leader once derided as weak a mandate for a strong central state, and crucial momentum ahead of national elections later this year.
It also marks a shift away from the overtly sectarian politics that gripped Iraq since 2003.
"This shows that the Iraqi voter wants to hear nationalist speeches as well as religious speeches," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said. "The first priority for Iraqis is security. The prime minister achieved good security for Iraq. The Iraqi voter preferred to give his vote to the one who brought security."
Mr Maliki, himself a Shia with Islamist roots, campaigned on a rigorously non-sectarian law-and-order platform, even as his opponents adopted overtly religious slogans and images.
Saturday's provincial election was the most peaceful in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, hailed as a sign of progress by Washington as its 140,000 troops prepare to leave.
State of Law won by huge margins in the capital and Iraq's second largest city Basra, and scored smaller but substantial victories in seven of eight other Shia provinces in the south.
Results released by the independent election commission showed State of Law winning 38 per cent of votes in the capital and 37 per cent in Basra, the province that includes the second largest city and most of Iraq's oil exports.
A group backed by Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr placed second in Baghdad with just 9 per cent of the vote. In Basra ISCI placed second with 11.6 per cent.
Although Iraq is now largely quieter than at any time since the United States invaded in 2003, a suicide bomber in the north killed 15 people hours before the poll results were unveiled, a reminder that peace remains an elusive goal.
The suicide bombing was the bloodiest attack in weeks. At the height of Iraq's violence a year and a half ago such attacks were a daily occurrence.
Reuters