Partial results from six Iraqi provinces show main Shiite party leading

[Freddie Stubbs]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Partial election results from six of Iraq's 18 provinces showed the cleric-endorsed Shiite ticket running strongly for seats Thursday in the National Assembly.

The results came from 25 percent of the vote in Baghdad and from partial counts in five predominantly Shiite provinces, where the United Iraqi Alliance had been expected to do well. The alliance had the backing of Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

The partial results were too small, however, to show any national trend. They covered 1.6 million votes counted so far in Baghdad, Dhi Qar, Muthanna, Qadisiyah, Najaf and Karbala provinces. Of the six, sparsely populated Muthanna province had the most ballots tallied so far: 70 percent.

Meanwhile, incomplete results from eight of the 14 countries where Iraqis voted overseas showed Kurds doing well in Europe, where a large Kurdish community lives, while the Shiite ticket was the top in five countries.

more: http://www.tdn.com/articles/2005/02/03/nation_world/news21.txt

[Postmanx]

1. Excellent!

This is a wonderful time for Iraq.

edited to add:

So much for the theory that the US pre-determined the outcome of the election.

[thebigidea]

4. I guess you missed...

"The partial results were too small, however, to show any national trend."

give it a couple of days before you join the bleating chorus cheering on a pathetic farce.

[daleo]

5. This is only the first inning

There are plenty more machinations to come.

[On the Road]

2. Would the Cleric-Endorsed Ticket Nominate Allawi

or or they opposed to him. I realize that Allawi is usually called "secular," but clerics like Sistani have collaborated with secular governments before. If not him, who would likely be chosen for leadership roles. Clerics?

[leftchick]

6. This is al-Sistani's guy...

And he is claiming allawi is corrupt! :)

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/37FF50AE-F3C8-4ED7-828D-594411718E28.htm



Husain Shahristani is a close confidant of Ayat Allah al-Sistani

[Tempest]

8. Damn, you beat me too it

And here I thought I was the only one who read Al Jazeera. ;)

[Tempest]

7. Top leader of the winning party called Allawi corrupt

A top Shia leader tipped to become Iraq's next prime minister has branded Iyad Allawi's interim government the most corrupt in the country's history.

A close confidant of Grand Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani, Husain Shahristani lashed out at the Allawi government and singled out Defence Minister Hazim Shaalan as the main offender.

http://tinyurl.com/4g2wv

[KurtNYC]

3. Oh no Sistani's ahead, Better call your brother Jeb!

[Roland99]

9. Strong Lead by Shiite Clergy in Iraq Vote

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050203/D88190P80.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi officials Thursday released the first partial returns from national elections, showing a commanding lead by candidates backed by the Shiite Muslim clergy. Sunni insurgents unleashed a wave of attacks, killing at least 29 people, including two U.S. Marines and a dozen Iraqi army recruits.

Meanwhile, election officials said strict security measures may have deprived many Iraqis in the Mosul area and surrounding Ninevah province of their right to vote. The admission is likely to fuel complaints by Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs, who make up the heart of the insurgency, that they were not represented in the vote.

The results released by the election commission four days after Sunday's balloting came from Baghdad and five provinces in the southern Shiite heartland.

As expected, they showed that the United Iraqi Alliance, backed by Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, was leading - with 1.1 million votes out of the 1.6 million counted and certified so far. Some 14 million Iraqis were eligible to vote. The ticket headed by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a U.S.-backed secular Shiite, trailed second with more than 360,500 votes.

[bluestateguy]

10. Will Sistani demand the US leave?

I do not want Iraq to become a theocracy, but if it means that the new government will order the US to leave, I'll take it.

[Roland99]

11. al Qaeda (and Zarqawi) would LOVE that!

[bluestateguy]

13. Al Qaeda dislikes the Shiites

Believe it or not, not all Muslims think alike.

[Roland99]

15. What I meant was they would love it if the US were forced to leave

They would thrive in the huge lack of security that would result.

[bluestateguy]

17. Al Qaeda is already thriving because of this misguided war

That bridge was crossed a long time ago. We turn the other cheek when the Saudis coddle Al Qaeda. Much of Afghanistan is a safe haven for Taliban and Al Qaeda forces. We also alienated millions of Muslims worldwide by starting this cruel war in Iraq. We tortured prisoners, many of whom were innocent, at Guantanamo and Abu Grahib. As a result, Al Qaeda's recruitment efforts have been strengthened. Iraq's ethnic and religious conflicts go back many years, transcending the two wars the US has fought over there in the last 15 years. At the end of the day, Iraqis will have to find a way to resolve their country's internal conflicts. It's their responsibility, though I'd be fine with the US playing the role of nuetral arbiter and peacemaker between the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites.

[Roland99]

18. I wouldn't say they are thriving. They aren't dead, for sure, but...

to say they're thriving?

The Marines come in and force everyone from one city to the next. They don't have the luxury of setting up permanent locations to become better organized.

Take the US forces out of the picture and things change dramatically.


I just wonder if they'll hold to their word of setting up a secular government:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/24/international/middleeast/24shiites.html?ex=1264309200&en=f996c731fa4e77ef&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

[annabanana]

12. So.. When they get to actually elect some officials, THIS group

might actually invite us to LEAVE. (What they do to the minority Sunni's afterwards won't be pretty). So, in order to avoid leaving, will BushCo try to get a fix in for Allawi's crowd the same way they diddled Ohio?

(God, I'd LOVE to send KKKarl over there and let him try to hide voting machines and misdirect voters.....they mightn't be so easily manipulated)

[carolinayellowdog]

14. We got rid of the mullahs' worst enemy

And it only cost 1400 American lives and 200 billion dollars to make the world safer for Shiite theocracy

[Blue_In_AK]

16. Is there any way that ** will allow the Iran-loving mullahs

to be in charge? I doubt it. He'll be "fixing" things a little better in the follow-up election, I imagine.