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Landslide election wins for Iraq PM in provinces
Thu Feb 5, 2009 10:29am EST
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By Missy Ryan and Khalid al-Ansary
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki won landslide victories over Shi'ite rivals in provincial elections, reflecting a seismic shift in the political landscape, preliminary results issued on Thursday showed.
Results showed big wins for the prime minister's State of Law coalition in the capital Baghdad and the second largest city Basra, giving him and his party a major boost before national elections at the end of the year.
Maliki's allies also scored smaller but substantial victories in eight of nine other Shi'ite provinces in the south.
Saturday's provincial election was the most peaceful in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, hailed as a sign of progress by Washington as it plans a gradual withdrawal of its 140,000 troops.
Maliki campaigned across the country on a law-and-order platform, claiming credit for improvements in security.
Although his own Dawa Party has Shi'ite Islamist roots, he campaigned with virtually no reference to religion, a tactic that seemed to appeal to voters exhausted by years of sectarian warfare.
Secularist and independent parties also fared well across Iraq, the results showed, after being largely swamped by religious parties in the last election in 2005.
By contrast, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI) -- until now Iraq's dominant Shi'ite party -- relied on religious images and slogans extensively throughout in its campaign, and did not win a single province.
SUICIDE BOMBER
Although Iraq is now largely quieter than at any time since the United States invaded in 2003, a suicide bomber in the north killed 15 people hours before the poll results were unveiled, a reminder that peace remains an elusive goal.
The suicide bombing was the bloodiest attack in weeks. At the height of Iraq's violence a year and a half ago such attacks were a daily occurrence.
Results released by the independent election commission showed Maliki's State of Law bloc winning 38 percent of votes in the capital and 37 percent in Basra, the province that includes the second largest city and most of Iraq's oil exports.
A group backed by Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr placed second in Baghdad with just 9 percent of the vote. In Basra ISCI placed second with 11.6 percent.
State of Law's margins of victory were smaller in other Shi'ite provinces, and the next weeks are expected to see parties scrambling to form coalitions in the regional councils which elect powerful governors.
SUNNI WIN IN NINEVEH Continued...
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