Pro-Iran Shia group ahead in Iraq polls

[NNN0LHI]

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/67b76a9c-7c5f-11d9-8992-00000e2511c8.html

Candidates linked to an Islamist party with close ties to Iran won out over rivals in elections for Iraq's provincial councils announced on Friday.

The results provide an early glimpse of the balance of electoral strength within the Shia political movement, which is expected to dominate once the final results of the January 30 election - expected in the next two days - are announced.

The strong turnout for slates associated with the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, (Sciri) suggests that it would have the advantage over its partners in a pan-Shia coalition in claiming key ministries.

However, some observers cautioned against reading too much into the results as a measure of the parties' popularity, as many voters - particularly in the capital, where the provincial council elections took a back seat to the national ones - were unsure what the different slates represented.

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[whistle]

1. Bush has a holy war on his hands now and the Iraqi's who...

...are being trained by Americans will bite our asses.

[alcuno]

2. Will we ever find out how many Iraqis voted?

I could have counted each ballot by myself by now.

[BattyDem]

3. So what does this mean ...

The Bush puppet won't control Iraq? :shrug: I've had some trouble following the elections, so I'm a bit confused.

[Catholic Sensation]

4. So if Iraq is run by a group that's pro-Iran...

and then we attack Iran... what will the pro-Iran Iraqi government do? It's kind of shocking that in all the discussion of the pro-Iran group winning the Iraqi election, I haven't seen much commentary on what will happen if we attack Iran and this group controls Iraq. It should be one of the major discussion points.