Shi'ite bloc to fall short of majority in Iraqi parliament
With six of 275 seats yet to be allocated, the Alliance and their Kurdish coalition partners were also one seat shy of the two-thirds majority needed to change the constitution, electoral commission figures show.
Final results are expected next week following a review of procedures by international observers responding to complaints of fraud by minority parties. No major change in the results from the December 15 vote is expected.
Sunni Arab parties, which boycotted last January's vote for the interim assembly, have been disappointed at the results but appear ready to take part in a grand coalition government.
The United Iraqi Alliance, formed by the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Dawa party and followers of nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, have 129 seats on the present tally, nine short of a majority and 11 fewer than in the interim assembly.
The main Kurdish bloc, which rules with the Shi'ites, has 52 seats on the present count, down from 75 at present.
In the outgoing parliament, the Shi'ite Alliance and the Kurds were able to produce a two-thirds majority of 182 seats but that may not be possible in the new legislature, depending on the allocation of the final handful of seats under a complex procedure intended to favour smaller parties.
The main Sunni Arab bloc, the Iraqi Accordance Front, would receive 42 seats, and another Sunni grouping with which it might ally, the National Dialogue Front, would have 10 or 11 seats.
The other main grouping, the cross-sectarian secular Iraqi National List led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, had 25 seats on the provisional count, 15 less than at present.
Disappointed after a highly visible public campaign, it is not yet clear whether Mr Allawi and his allies will take part in negotiations on joining a new coalition.
According to the latest figures, the Kurdish Islamic Alliance had five seats. Risaliyoon, a party linked to Sadr, had two, as had the Reconciliation and Liberation bloc. The Shi'ite Patriotic Rafidain group and the Turkish-speaking Turkmen Front won one seat each.
