Ayatollah-endorsed Shi’ite ticket makes early running

Jason Keyser, Baghdad

So far, 1.6 million votes have been counted, from 10% of the country's polling stations. The United Iraqi Alliance, which is backed by the country's most influential Shi'ite cleric, Grand

Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, had 1.1 million votes, and the list led by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's list was second with more than 360,500 votes.

However, the figures were only partial results mainly from Shi'ite-dominated provinces where the Alliance was expected to do well and were too small to say whether they represent the nationwide trend.

Election officials have said it could take seven to 10 days from the Sunday vote to produce full official results. Some 16 million Iraqis were eligible to vote, but it is still not known what percentage turned out at the polls. Seats in the National Assembly will be determined by the percentage of the nationwide vote that each faction wins.

Iraqi election officials sent a team to Mosul to look into allegations of voting irregularities in the surrounding Ninevah province, a largely Sunni region. Complaints have included polling stations running short of ballots, confusion over the poll locations and ongoing military operations. It was not clear how many voters were affected.

Shi'ites, who make up about 60% of Iraq's estimated 26 million people, turned out in large numbers in Sunday's balloting, eager to turn their majority into political power. However, many in the Sunni Arab minority are believed to have stayed away, raising concerns that the outcome could further alienate them and continue to fuel the Sunni-led insurgency.

Meanwhile, insurgents struck back with a vengeance following a post-election lull, killing at least 28 people, including two US Marines, in a burst of attacks, waylaying a minibus carrying new Iraqi army recruits, detonating car bombs and gunning down police and Iraqis working for the US army.

The insurgents had eased up on attacks following the elections, when US and Iraqi forces imposed sweeping security measures but, starting Wednesday night, guerrillas launched a string of dramatic attacks.

In the deadliest incident, insurgents stopped a minibus south of Kirkuk, ordered army recruits off the vehicle and gunned down 12 of them.