Kurds set to hold balance of power in Iraq
None of the 111 candidate lists is likely to end up with the two-thirds majority needed to make key decisions, so much of the face of the new Iraq at least in the coming transition period will be moulded by alliances and deals.
Partial returns point to a victory by the United Iraqi Alliance, a Shi'ite-dominated coalition tacitly endorsed by top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Leaders of the alliance, who have likely won the biggest bloc of seats in the incoming 275-member National Assembly, are now focusing on whom to back for prime minister.
