As votes are counted in Iraq, parties ready for horse-trading

Iraq's premier said Thursday he had enough support to keep his post, but with election results not due for weeks and parties bitterly divided, forming a government will probably take months.

Nuri al-Maliki, who is seeking a third term in office, will have to court disaffected parties within his own Shiite community, as well as Sunnis and Kurds who have angrily voiced opposition to his rule, but he expressed confidence following Wednesday's polls.

His remarks to journalists came as new figures showed April was among the bloodiest months since Iraq was embroiled in a brutal Sunni-Shiite sectarian war that left tens of thousands dead in 2006 and 2007.

The protracted surge in bloodshed, with more than 3,000 people killed already this year, is among the long list of complaints, along with rampant corruption, high unemployment, and what critics of the government say is insufficient improvement in public services.

Preliminary results from Wednesday's election are not expected for at least two weeks. Initial figures from the election commission said around 60 percent of 20 million eligible voters had voted.

Turnout in the last election in 2010 was 62 percent.

No government soon?

As was the case after previous elections, forming a government is likely to take months, but Maliki said on Thursday that he had the votes to put together a ruling coalition.

"We have confidence that we will achieve a political majority," he told reporters in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

"We have an ability to pass the 165 (seat threshold)" required to form a majority government.

However, he insisted he would not cling to the post: "My mother did not give birth to me as a minister or a prime minister. ... I am not interested in this subject (of being premier)."

While Maliki's bloc is tipped to win the most seats, no single party is expected to win a majority on its own and Iraq's various political alliances and communal groups will have to form coalitions.

Complicating matters is the fact that the three main positions of power -- the president, typically a Kurd, the prime minister, normally a Shiite, and the speaker of parliament, usually a Sunni Arab -- are often negotiated as an encompassing package.

"Finding a balance between the three communities -- Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds -- is not that easy of a process," said Ayham Kamel, Middle East and North Africa Director for Eurasia Group.

Kamel predicted forming a government could take three to six months, noting: "It's a bit difficult to do all of these things at once."

Wednesday's election, the first since US troops withdrew in late 2011, came amid a protracted surge in bloodshed, with new government figures released Thursday showing more than 1,000 Iraqis killed last month alone.

Questions of legitimacy

The premier's critics have accused him of concentrating power and marginalising the Sunni minority, and say public services have not sufficiently improved during his eight-year rule.

There are also many critics who have called into question the actual legitimacy of the whole process, insisting that candidates who played a role in the 2003 US invasion of Iraq must be barred of participating.

"Had such an invasion happened in Britain, every single member of the current regime would be charged with high treason for conspiring with foreign forces to harm the country's interests and National Security. So why is it acceptable in Iraq?" Asked Dr Burhan Al-Chalabi, former Chairman of the British Iraqi Foundation.

"The percentage required to change the constitution which was based on an arbitrary and mythical assumption that Shiites in Iraq constitute a majority of the people, but there is no single statistic available to substantiate this assumption. Most fundamentally, this assumption does not include the Kurds which are mainly of the Sunni sect," he added.

Obama hails Iraq's embrace of 'right to vote'

President Barack Obama on Thursday praised Iraq's parliamentary elections, saying the vote demonstrated the country's enthusiastic embrace of democracy despite "enormous challenges."

"Millions of Iraqis embraced their democratic right to vote," the president said in a statement following Wednesday's vote.

"The people of Iraq know better than anyone else the enormous challenges that they face, and yesterday's turnout demonstrated to the world that they seek to pursue a more stable and peaceful future through the political process."

Obama said the election would serve to "unite the country through the formation of a new government that is supported by all Iraqi communities and that is prepared to advance tangible and implementable programs."

The US president pledged "the United States will continue to stand with the Iraqi people as partners in their pursuit of a peaceful, unified and prosperous future."

Washington and the United Nations hailed the vote as a rebuke to extremists trying to derail the political process.

Despite the myriad issues facing Iraqis, candidates largely appealed to voters on ethnic, communal or tribal grounds, and the campaign itself hinged on Maliki's bid for a third term.