Majority Rules
Shiites win in Iraq, writes Jason Keyser for the AP. Kurds came in second. Now it's compromise time:
The Shiites likely will have to form a coalition in the 275-member National Assembly with the other top vote-getters the Kurds and Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's list to push through their agenda and select a president and prime minister. The president and two vice presidents must be elected by a two-thirds majority.The Shiite-dominated ticket received more than 4 million votes, or about 48 percent of the total cast, Iraqi election officials said. A Kurdish alliance was second with 2.175 million votes, or 26 percent, and Allawi's list was third with about 1.168 million, or 13.8 percent.
"Until now there is no estimation regarding how many seats the political parties will get, when the counts are final the number of seats will be divided according to the number of votes," commission member Adel al-Lami said.
Elsewhere Sunday, insurgents attacked a U.S. convoy and a government building near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, leaving at least four people dead, hospital workers said. Two Iraqi National Guard troops were also killed while trying to defuse a roadside bomb.
Can the country ever be stable without a U.S. military presence? What are your predictions on the outcome, and on how long we'll be there? Yoohoooo...Crid? I believe it's your turn!
The lessons of history: The Brits took the place over in 1918, "to protect British interests in the Middle East" (sound familiar?). It was fourteen years before they could supervise the admission of Iraq into the League of Nations and get the hell out.
Stu "El Inglés" Harris at February 14, 2005 8:59 AM
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