Iraqi Shias move to form coalition govt

Men watch a giant fire early yesterday after insurgent attacks on oil and gas infrastructure near the northern Iraqi town of Kirkuk. The gas pipeline was burning after a bomb attack near the Havana field, 40km north of Kirkuk. PHOTO: AFP

The Shia United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) says it wants to name a new prime minister after it was confirmed as winning nearly half the vote.

However the bloc will not have a parliamentary majority on its own. Kurdish groups, which came second, are seen as potential partners.

The process of forming a coalition is likely to take several weeks.

The finance minister in the interim government, Adel Abdel Mahdi, is widely tipped as the UIA's candidate for prime minister.

"Iraq is bleeding and we need everybody at this juncture to work for solidarity and unity," Abdel Mahdi told Arabic TV channel al-Arabiya.

He added that his alliance - which is backed by Iraq's most senior Shia Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani - was "seeking to realise a wide national harmony" in choosing key positions.

The new parliament will be tasked with writing a constitution, and the representation of the Shia bloc falls far short of the two-thirds majority needed for that.

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Baghdad says there are many deals to be done in the coming weeks.

The Kurds have called for one of their leaders to become president.

According to results released by Iraq's election commission on Sunday, 58 percent of registered Iraqis turned out to vote in the 30 January poll and the Shia alliance took 48 percent of ballots cast.

A secular list led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi got 14 percent, while ethnic Kurdish parties won 26 percent.

The results were described as provisional, since parties were given three days to lodge any appeals.

Our correspondent says the new leaders must also decide how much real power to share with Sunni Muslims, who dominated Iraq before the US-led war that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Sunni candidates won only a handful of seats in the new parliament, because of an election boycott and intimidation.

The violence continued after the poll. On Sunday at least nine people died in attacks across Iraq.

US President George W Bush on Sunday congratulated Iraqi voters "for defying terrorist threats and setting their country on the path of democracy and freedom".

The US and its coalition partners could "all take pride in... making that great day possible", he added.