AP update:

Iraqi Elections Breakdown [list of facts]

Sunni Arab politicians called for a government of national unity Saturday and signaled they will use their increased numbers in parliament to curb the power of rival Shiites, who have claimed the biggest number of seats in the new legislature. [...] Official returns released Friday from the Dec. 15 national election confirmed that the coalition of Shiite religious parties that dominates the outgoing government again won the biggest number of seats in the new parliament - but not enough to govern without partners. The Shiite alliance took 128 of the 275 seats, the election commission said. An alliance of two Kurdish parties allied with the Shiites in the outgoing government won 53 seats. Sunni Arabs, virtually shut out of the current assembly, scored major gains, opening the door to a greater role in government for the community at the heart of the insurgency. The Friday announcement paves the way for intensive negotiations to form a new government. U.S. officials are urging formation of a broad-based government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, hoping that will lure insurgents away from violence so that U.S. and other foreign troops can begin withdrawing. In separate press conferences Saturday, two leading Sunni Arab politicians expressed their interest in joining a coalition government. But they made clear they will insist on curbing the trend toward sectarianism, which many Sunnis blame on policies of the outgoing government led by Shiites and Kurds. [...]

Ayad Allawi looks like the poster child for America's vision for Iraq - secular, pro-Western, tough on terrorism. To Iraqis, the former prime minister and other secular figures proved less attractive. That underscores a truism: In the new Iraq, politics and religion go hand in hand. Allawi's ticket, which included prominent Sunnis and Shiites, won only 25 of the 275 seats in the December election, according to results announced Friday. That represented a 38 percent loss from the number of seats won by Allawi's ticket in January 2005 - although the former prime minister himself was elected to parliament. However, another prominent secular Shiite and former Washington favorite, Ahmad Chalabi, didn't even win a seat. Instead, the voters turned to candidates who ran under a religious - or in the case of the Kurds, an ethnic - label. [...]

BBC: Iraq's Shia-led United Iraqi Alliance has won the country's parliamentary elections, but failed to obtain an absolute majority. The alliance took 128 of the 275 seats - 10 short of an outright majority. Kurdish parties have 53 seats and the main Sunni Arab bloc 44. The Shias will now be expected to form a coalition government.

Blog Iraq The Model posts about a dispute over federalism, and some good news from Anbar.

AP reports: U.S. Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday said the United States will not be successful in Iraq unless the political landscape better represents the country's minorities. Obama, the nation's only black senator, met with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Saturday. He said before his two-day trip to Iraq that he wanted to ask U.S. commanders for a realistic time frame on bringing troops home. "What I'm fully convinced of is if we don't see signs of political progress ... over a relatively short time frame - let's say six months or so - we can pour money and troops in here till the cows come home, but we won't be successful," said Obama, D-Ill., who said he opposed the war before it began. Talabani predicted Saturday that a new government could be formed within weeks and said the country's main political groups had agreed in principle on a national unity coalition that would include the country's majority Shiites and minority Kurds and Sunni Arabs. Obama said he was confident a new government could be formed but was skeptical of Talabani's time frame. [...]

AP reports: Final results from last month's parliamentary elections might not be announced for two more weeks, an official said Tuesday, a day after Iraq's main Sunni Arab group agreed on broad outlines for a coalition government. The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq has completed its investigation of almost 2,000 election complaints and will announce the findings Wednesday, commission member Hussein Hindawi told The Associated Press. But the commission won't announce final election results until an international team finishes its work, meaning results might not be ready for two weeks, said commission member Safwat Rashid. Officials previously said final results of the Dec. 15 vote would be announced in early January. The commission investigated 1,980 complaints, including 50 that were considered serious enough to alter results in some districts, an election official said. [...]

BBC News reports: A team of international monitors in Iraq have begun to review complaints of fraud and voter intimidation during last month's parliamentary elections. The International Mission for Iraqi Elections is expected to spend several days studying the allegations made by many Sunni Arab and secular parties. Early results suggest the governing Shia and Kurdish alliances have won the majority of votes. The final results are expected once the monitors have completed their review. The United Nations has said the poll was transparent and fair, and that a rerun would not be necessary. [...]

AP reports: Iraq's main Sunni Arab group made an unprecedented trip north to see the Kurds and agreed Monday for the first time on broad outlines for a coalition government - possibly opening a way out of the political turmoil that has gripped the country since disputed elections. A promise of Iraqi army protection for tanker truck drivers reopened the country's main refinery - a last-ditch effort by the Shiite-led government to avert a fuel crisis that has led to deadly riots and the oil minister's resignation. As part of the bargaining for a new coalition government, President Jalal Talabani assured Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari that his fellow Kurds would not object if the United Iraqi Alliance - the Shiite religious bloc that won the most votes in the election - again nominates him for the prime minister post. [...]

Zaman Online (Turkey) reports: Although the final results of the general elections in Iraq have not been revealed, Shiites and Kurds, which are expected to take the first and the second places in the elections, reached a consensus about establishing a government. London Centered Al-Hayat Newspaper wrote Kurds and United Shiite Alliance leader Abdulaziz al-Hakim, who made negotiations in Suleymaniye, reached a consensus on some principles. According to the news, al-Hakim and Iraq’s Kurdish President, Jalal Talabani, reached an agreement on the following issues: The constitution which was subject to referendum on October 15 will not change. The federalist system will be applied in the North, Middle and South of the country. The studies to pull the successful groups in the elections in the Kurdish-Shiite Government will continue. The newspaper noted this consensus may divide Sunnis, who opposed the constitution and federalist structure and participated in the elections for this particular reason. Sunni Arabs, who defend there were irregularities in the October 15 elections, and secular Shiite groups announced they will not negotiate with conservative Shiites, who are winners of the elections, to establish a government. Meanwhile, Iraqi Vice President Ahmed Celebi, who is a former favorite of the US, still has a chance to enter the Parliament. Celebi’s spokesman Musavi said “We have some sensations that we will have at least one chair in the parliament.” [...]

A delegation from Iraq's main Sunni Arab group planned to meet with senior Kurdish officials Sunday as political factions ponder the options for forming a coalition government. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite Arab, also was traveling to Iraq's Kurdish region to meet with regional President Massoud Barzani, the head of one of the two main Kurdish political parties. It was unclear if a three-way meeting between al-Jaafari, Sunnis and Kurds would take place. The visit by a Sunni Arab delegation to Iraq's northern Kurdish region would be the first such trip since the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, whose results have been contested by Sunni groups and secular parties. The discussions come at a critical time for Iraq, with the United States placing high hopes on forming a broad-based coalition government that will provide the fledgling democracy with the stability and security it needs to allow American troops to begin returning home. [...]

Reuters reports: Leaders of Iraq's Sunni and secular communities gave a cautious welcome on Friday to a plan to bring foreign experts to Baghdad to review the results of this month's election, which they say was fraudulent. They said they would cooperate with the experts and still hoped to join Shi'ites and Kurds in a grand coalition government capable of healing Iraq's sectarian wounds and providing its people with the basic services they so badly need. [...]

New York Times via Star Tribune: An Iraqi court ordered at least 90 candidates in the recent national elections disqualified from serving in the Iraqi parliament because of their ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. While it was not clear whether more than a handful of the affected candidates would have won seats in parliament, the ruling bars some Sunni Arab leaders who probably would have won. And it is sure to stoke already-deep resentment among Sunni Arabs, who are likely to again have a limited role in the new government despite a large turnout at the ballot box nine days ago. [...]

Mail & Guardian: The governing Shi'ite coalition has called on Iraqis to accept results showing the religious bloc leading in parliamentary elections and moved ahead with efforts to form a "national unity" government. But as they reached out Saturday to Sunni Arabs and others, senior officials in the United Iraqi Alliance deepened the post-election turmoil by claiming that Islamic extremists and Saddam Hussein loyalists were at the forefront of those questioning the results. At least one Sunni Arab leader said he was upset by the Shi'ite comments. [...]