Kurdish supporters wave Kurdish flags in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, on Feb. 13.

"This is a new birth for Iraq," election commission spokesman Farid Ayar said, announcing the results. Iraqi voters "became a legend in their confrontation with terrorists."

The Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance ticket received 4,075,295 votes, or about 48 percent of the vote in the Jan. 30 election, but it fell short of the votes needed to control the 275-member National Assembly. That places the focus on backdoor deals to create a new government -- possibly in an alliance with the Kurds -- and on efforts to lure Sunnis into the fold and away from a bloody insurgency.

Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, the secular Shiite chosen by the United States to lead Iraq for the last eight turbulent months, fared poorly -- his ticket finishing a distant third behind the religious Shiites and Kurds.

The Kurdistan Alliance, a coalition of two main Kurdish parties, finished second with 2,175,551 votes, or 26 percent, and the Iraqi List headed by Allawi stood third with 1,168,943 votes, or nearly 14 percent.

The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 19, 2005
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