IRAQ: Provisional voting figures in the Iraqi election suggest the main Shia alliance has claimed its anticipated large victory, as well as predicting a better than expected showing from the Kurds.
Although the official result of Sunday's poll is not expected to be announced for several days, three sets of provisional voting figures compiled separately by a senior Iraqi official, a leading member of the Shia alliance, and a top Kurdish politician have been seen.
A rough analysis of the numbers suggest that the United Iraqi Alliance, the main Shia list, is hovering around the 48 per cent to 50 per cent mark, which could give it 135 to 138 seats in the 275-seat transitional national assembly.
The Kurdistan slate is running at about 30 per cent - 85 to 90 seats - which could see it holding the balance of power in the new parliament and possibly acting as kingmaker in the creation of the transitional government.
In third place is the coalition headed by the interim prime minister, Mr Iyad Allawi, with 12 per cent to 15 per cent of the vote, and in a strong fourth place is the Iraqi Communist party.
Lists led by Sunni Arab politicians, such as the interim president Mr Ghazi al-Yawer and Mr Adnan Pachachi, are thought to have won only a couple of seats each. However, it emerged yesterday that Iraq's leading Sunni clerics might agree to join in drafting the new Iraqi constitution even though they believe the election for the national assembly that will be in charge of writing it lacked legitimacy.
"The Association of Muslim Scholars has received an invitation from Iraq's president, Ghazi al-Yawer, to take part, and we will meet shortly to discuss it," said Sheikh Yusuf al-Hassan, the head of the association's Basra branch.
The Association of Muslim Scholars issued a statement yesterday saying the poll "lacks legitimacy because a large portion of these people who represent many spectra have boycotted it.
"We make it clear to the United Nations and the international community that they should not get involved in granting this election legitimacy because such a move will open the gates of evil."
But it kept the door open by adding: "We are going to respect the choice of those who voted and we will consider the new government - if all the parties participating in the political process agree on it - as a transitional government with limited powers." -